Who gets to vote?

Two voting bodies, not one

Every HOA has two separate groups that vote, and they are not interchangeable. The board of directors votes on board business, budgets, contracts, rule changes, at board meetings. The membership, meaning the owners themselves, votes on membership matters: electing directors, approving special assessments, amending the declaration or bylaws.

Which body decides which question is set first by your governing documents, then filled in by state statute where the documents are silent. Mixing the two up, letting the board vote on something that actually requires a membership vote, or asking owners to weigh in on ordinary board business, is one of the more common procedural mistakes a new board makes. Before you worry about how many votes something needs, ask which body gets to vote at all.

One vote per unit, however many owners

At the membership level, the standard rule is one vote per unit or lot, not one vote per person on the deed.

"Virtually every set of association governing documents allow for only one (1) vote to be cast per 'separate interest' (per unit) within the association, regardless of the number of persons on title to the unit."

Source: One Vote Per Unit, FindHOALaw

If three people co-own a unit and can't agree how to vote it, at least one state's practice treats whoever actually casts the ballot as voting on behalf of all the co-owners. Check your own state's rule and your governing documents for how a disputed unit vote gets resolved.

One recognized exception is the developer during build-out: governing documents can grant a developer extra votes per unit it still owns, subject to limits written into those same documents. Read your declaration's voting article for the exact language that applies to your association.

Directors vote in person, not by proxy

Directors are a different story than owners. At a board meeting, a director is expected to be present and cast their own vote, not hand it to someone else.

"By statute, proxy voting is often permitted in for-profit corporations and community associations. Proxy voting is almost universally prohibited in board meetings."

Source: Proxies, Jim Slaughter, PRP

The reasoning behind the split: a proxy is typically filled out before the meeting, so it can't respond to what happens during debate. A board is a small body meant to deliberate together, so that responsiveness matters more than it does for a large membership vote.

Florida spells this out directly for HOA boards:

"Directors may not vote by proxy or by secret ballot at board meetings, except that secret ballots may be used in the election of officers."

Source: Florida Statutes Section 720.303, Florida Legislature

Not every state spells the rule out this plainly. Check your own state's statute and your bylaws before assuming a director can, or can't, vote by proxy or secret ballot at a board meeting.