“Community association” is the umbrella term for HOAs, condominium associations, property owner associations (POAs), and co-ops – different names, same basic job: an elected board making decisions on behalf of everyone who owns property in the community. However your association is legally organized, the fundamentals of running an election that actually holds up are largely the same: know your governing documents, hit quorum, protect ballot secrecy where it’s required, and follow whatever your state says about electronic voting.
What Counts as an Election
Director elections get most of the attention, but they’re not the only vote that follows this process. Bylaw and CC&R amendments, annual budget approvals, special assessments, material alterations, and board removal votes typically run through the same notice-quorum-ballot framework as a board election, even though people don’t usually call them “elections.” If a decision affects every owner in the community, it’s worth treating with the same rigor.
Find Your Association Type
The core process is similar everywhere, but the details, terminology, and applicable state statutes can differ by association type.
HOA Board Elections → the most common structure, and often the most contested.
Condo Association Elections → frequently governed by a different section of state law than HOAs, with owner-versus-renter considerations HOAs don’t have.
POA Voting → larger or master-planned communities, sometimes layered under an HOA structure.
State Law by State → what your state’s statute actually requires before you flip the switch on electronic voting.
What’s the Same Everywhere
Quorum, secret ballots, and electronic voting law show up in some form no matter what your association is called. Quorum requirements come from your governing documents and often state law, and failing to hit it is the single most common reason an election has to be redone rather than any problem with the vote itself. Secret ballot rules, where they apply, mean no one, including the board or your management company, should be able to trace a ballot back to who cast it. And electronic voting law varies more by state than most boards expect: California’s, for instance, took effect January 1, 2025, and is specific enough that guidance from even a year or two ago can be out of date. See our state-by-state election law guide for what your specific state requires. (More detail on each of these lives in our FAQ.)
What’s the Difference Between an HOA and a Condo Association?
Legally, quite a bit, even though the election process looks similar from the outside. An HOA typically governs individually-owned lots or single-family homes, where common areas are usually a smaller portion of what’s shared. A condo association governs individually-owned units within a shared building or structure, which means state law often treats things like insurance, maintenance responsibility, and even voting rights differently. If you manage both types, it’s worth confirming which statute actually applies before assuming your HOA process transfers directly.
Why Associations and Management Companies Work With Vote HOA Now
Most election vendors sell a voting tool and leave the rest to you. Our team includes former community managers, so the guidance behind your election comes from people who’ve actually run this process, not a support script. We’ve worked directly with attorneys across multiple states presenting to their board and management-company clients, and we were part of the effort that got California’s electronic voting law passed. Our continuing education courses are accredited by CAMICB, Florida’s DBPR, and Illinois’s DFPR – the same agencies that issue the CAM, CMCA, PCAM, and LCAM designations your managers already hold. With community manager turnover as high as it’s been across the industry, that’s expertise a lot of management companies can no longer guarantee they have in-house.