Voting thresholds for amendments

Your declaration sets the number first

Declarations commonly state their own vote threshold for amendments, and that number controls once it is there. Only when the declaration is silent does a state's common interest ownership statute fill the gap with its own default. Whether your state has adopted a common interest ownership statute at all, and what its default percentage is, varies by state. Nevada's version, for example, requires a majority of the association's votes unless the declaration itself sets a different percentage for some or all amendments. That is one state's structure, shown here to illustrate how the rule is commonly built, not a number that applies where you live. Read your declaration's amendment article first, then your state statute only if it is silent.

The count is usually of all owners, not just who shows up

An ordinary board vote only needs a majority of the directors in the room. An amendment vote works differently: statutes like Nevada's phrase the threshold as a share of the association's total votes, meaning every owner entitled to vote, not only the ones who attend the meeting. Whether your declaration or state counts total ownership, votes actually cast, or something else again varies, so read the exact phrase your document uses before assuming a smaller turnout is enough. A well attended meeting where everyone present votes yes can still fall short of what the document requires.

Bylaws can carry a different threshold than the declaration

The declaration and the bylaws are amended separately, and each can set its own vote rule for changing itself. Where an association's bylaws adopt Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised as their parliamentary authority and set no amendment rule of their own, one practitioner's account of that book's default splits the bar in two depending on whether notice was given:

"Proposed changes to the bylaws must be provided to the members at least 30 days in advance. Notice must be given."

"to make a permanent change, a 2/3 vote or a majority vote preceded by advance notice is required."

Source: Why Bylaws?, Jurassic Parliament

That is one practitioner's account of Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised, not this course's independent reading of the book, and it only applies at all if your bylaws name Robert's Rules as their parliamentary authority. If your bylaws set their own amendment vote instead, that number controls, not this one.