Electronic elections
Whether your HOA can accept ballots online, and what that requires
Electronic voting lets members return ballots online instead of by mail, but whether it's allowed, and under what safeguards, is set entirely by your state statute and your governing documents. California added detailed rules for internet voting effective January 1, 2025; other states vary widely, and guidance written even two years ago may already be outdated.
What changes when a ballot moves online
A ballot cast electronically still has to satisfy the same underlying requirement as a paper one: the association has to be able to verify who voted without anyone being able to see how they voted. States that regulate this in detail set specific authentication and secrecy safeguards a system has to meet. Check your state statute before adopting one.
California added a detailed set of these safeguards to its Civil Code effective January 1, 2025, and now lets an association run its election entirely by mail, entirely by electronic secret ballot, or as a mix of both. Nevada takes a lighter approach: owners can return a ballot electronically or on paper within the same return window, whichever they prefer.
Why "is it legal" isn't a yes or no answer
Whether your association can use electronic voting at all, and what it has to include, depends entirely on your state statute, and that statute can change. California's own electronic voting rule changed materially in 2025, which means anything written about California electronic voting before that date may already describe a rule that no longer applies.
"at least 24 states" allow electronic voting, with "10 others" having no specific restriction.
Source: Electronic Voting Tips for HOAs, Community Associations Institute
Treat a count like this as a snapshot rather than a current answer. It is already out of date for California, and the same is likely true elsewhere by the time you read it. Confirm your own state's current rule directly rather than relying on a landscape summary.
What to check before your board turns it on
Start with the actual text of your state's current statute, not a summary of it. Guidance written even two or three years ago can describe a rule that has since changed. Then check whether your bylaws already address electronic balloting, since the governing documents sit below statute but above whatever a board decides on its own.
If your state requires specific authentication or secrecy safeguards for an electronic system, whatever vendor or method the board picks has to meet those, not just be convenient. None of this is optional groundwork you can skip because a race looks simple, or add later if a challenge comes in.
Check yourself
Answer before you read the explanation, recalling it is what makes it stick.
A board in a state with no detailed election statute wants to adopt electronic voting for the first time. What should they do first?
A California board reads a 2022 newsletter claiming electronic voting isn't allowed under the Civil Code. Is that accurate today?
A Nevada association wants to accept ballots electronically alongside mailed paper ballots. What does the research say about combining these?
Sources
- California Civil Code, Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act, Article 4, Member Elections, California Legislative Information
- Nevada Revised Statutes, Section 116.31034, Nevada Legislature
- Electronic Voting Tips for HOAs, Community Associations Institute
Elections
Next, see how a ballot, paper or electronic, has to be designed to actually stay secret: Ballot design.
Whether electronic voting is legal, what authentication and secrecy safeguards it needs, and whether it can be mixed with mailed ballots vary by state and change over time. Check your current state statute and your bylaws before adopting any system.