Academy/Voting & Board Decisions
Supermajorities
Some votes need more than half. Here is what that actually means and where the exact number comes from.
A supermajority is any voting threshold set higher than a simple majority, commonly used to make big, hard to reverse decisions, like amending governing documents, harder to pass than an ordinary motion. There is no universal percentage. Your declaration and your state's statute set the exact fraction, so check both before assuming two thirds or any other number applies.
What a supermajority changes
An ordinary motion in a board or membership meeting passes with a plain majority, more than half of the votes actually cast. A supermajority is any threshold set higher than that, most often two thirds or three quarters, and it exists to make certain decisions deliberately harder to pass than routine business.
Associations reach for a supermajority when the stakes are high and undoing the decision later would be painful: amending the declaration or bylaws, taking on debt, or changing how the community is governed. A higher bar means a smaller, more motivated minority can block the change, which is the point.
Votes cast, just a bigger share of them
A supermajority usually still runs against votes cast, the same denominator as an ordinary majority, just with a higher percentage required. Robert's Rules illustrates this with the motion to amend or rescind something the body already adopted. With advance notice to the membership, an ordinary majority is enough. Without it, the bar jumps.
"If no previous notice was given, it takes a two-thirds vote of votes cast to pass."
Source: Changing Course: Using Robert's Rules to Alter a Prior Action, MRSC
Same votes-cast denominator, just a higher fraction of it, and the fraction depends entirely on whether the room had fair warning the vote was coming.
When a plain "majority" is actually the harder bar
Not every tough threshold is labeled a supermajority. Some statutes require a majority of the entire membership, not just those who show up and vote, and that can be harder to clear than a true two-thirds-of-votes-cast supermajority when turnout is low. California is a confirmed example: when a declaration is silent on its own amendment threshold, state law does not fall back to an ordinary majority of votes cast.
"an amendment may be approved by a majority of all members, pursuant to Section 4065."
Source: California Civil Code Section 5110, California Legislative Information
That is California's rule for a silent declaration only. Your own declaration's amendment article, and your own state's statute, may set a completely different threshold, phrased against votes cast, against the full membership, or as a true supermajority. Read the actual clause before you assume a number.
Check yourself
Answer before you read the explanation, recalling it is what makes it stick.
Your bylaws require a two-thirds vote of votes cast to amend the declaration. Twenty owners vote: thirteen yes, seven no. Does the amendment pass?
A California HOA's declaration does not state its own amendment threshold. Under the state's default rule, what does it take to amend the declaration?
A board wants to rescind a decision it made last month. No advance notice of this agenda item was given this time. Under Robert's Rules, what vote does it take to succeed?
Sources
- Changing Course: Using Robert's Rules to Alter a Prior Action, MRSC
- California Civil Code Section 5110, California Legislative Information
Related elsewhere in the Academy
Voting & Board Decisions
Not sure whether your own vote needs a plain majority or something higher? Start with Majority explained.
The exact supermajority percentage, whether it is measured against votes cast or against the entire membership, and what triggers it at all vary by state statute and by your own declaration and bylaws.