HOA online voting in the United States: four state regimes compared
Whether an HOA or condominium association in the United States can vote online depends on the state. Florida, Texas, California and Arizona each set a different rule, and Florida alone has one rule for condominiums and another for homeowners' associations.
«The association may conduct elections and other unit owner votes through an Internet-based online voting …»
Florida condominiums. An association may run elections and other unit owner votes through an Internet-based online voting system if the owner consents. The system must authenticate the owner, authenticate each vote so it is not altered in transit, send the voter a receipt and, in board elections, permanently separate identifying information from the ballot; owners must be able to confirm at least 14 days before the deadline that their device works. Owners voting electronically count as present for the quorum. The board adopts online voting by resolution, and a petition of 25 percent of the voting interests forces a board meeting within 21 days. An association that has not adopted a system must designate an email address for electronically transmitted ballots, with a prescribed warning that emailing a ballot waives its secrecy (Fla. Stat. § 718.128).
Florida homeowners' associations. Chapter 720 allows online voting with the member's consent, but the requirement to separate identity from the ballot applies only if the bylaws provide for secret ballots in director elections, and the section has no email fallback and no owner petition. The board meeting that considers the resolution needs 14 days' notice evidenced by an affidavit (Fla. Stat. § 720.317).
Texas. An owner's vote may be cast in person or by proxy, by absentee ballot, or by electronic ballot, and an association need offer only one of absentee ballot, proxy or electronic ballot unless its dedicatory instrument says otherwise. An electronic ballot means a ballot given by email, fax or posting on a website, for which the owner's identity can be confirmed and a receipt is available. A ballot cast at the meeting supersedes an earlier absentee or electronic one (Tex. Prop. Code § 209.00592).
California. Since January 1, 2025 an association may adopt an election operating rule that allows an election by electronic secret ballot through its inspector of elections, except for an election regarding regular or special assessments. Members may switch between electronic and written ballot up to 90 days before the election, the association must keep a voting list and send a written ballot to members without an email address on file, and a vote by electronic secret ballot cannot be revoked (Cal. Civ. Code § 5105). The inspector tabulates the votes in public, and no one, including an employee of the management company, may open the tally sheet early (Cal. Civ. Code § 5120).
Arizona. After the period of declarant control ends, votes may not be cast by proxy; the association must provide for voting in person and by absentee ballot and may also provide another form of delivery, including email and fax. Arizona does not name an internet voting system. A completed condominium ballot carries the voter's name, address and "either the actual or electronic signature", while the planned-community section says only "signature", a difference to raise with a lawyer rather than assume (A.R.S. §§ 33-1250 and 33-1812).
Proxies in one line each. Florida condominium board elections may not use proxies, except in an association of 10 or fewer units that has adopted different procedures in its bylaws, and timeshare condominiums are excluded (Fla. Stat. § 718.112(2)(d)); Texas lists voting by proxy among the methods, but an association need offer only one of absentee ballot, proxy or electronic ballot unless its dedicatory instrument says otherwise (Tex. Prop. Code § 209.00592); Arizona bans proxies after declarant control (A.R.S. § 33-1250 for condominiums, A.R.S. § 33-1812 for planned communities).
What a Unitify vote does and does not do
Unitify runs surveys and votes in the app, and the management company can follow results as they come in. That is why a Unitify vote is not a California electronic secret ballot, which runs through the inspector of elections with no early look at the tally (Cal. Civ. Code § 5120). A vote or survey in the app does not by itself make an association meeting or election valid under state law: notice, quorum, ballot secrecy and, in California, the inspector of elections stay governed by the statute and your governing documents. Unitify has no video conferencing of its own (use Zoom or Meet) and no qualified electronic signature.
Online voting in Unitify
