HOA elections are always stressful. Hitting quorum is tough, mailing paper ballots and then counting them is time consuming, plus you have to keep chasing up your neighbors who keep forgetting to vote.
That’s where electronic voting software comes in. It saves boards, managers, and residents time, money, and can increase participation in important elections. Read our guide to find out what it is, what features it needs to have, which states allow it, and the best HOA online voting solutions.
What Is Electronic Voting Software?
Electronic voting software is a tool that enables owners in HOAs to vote online. It ensures that all voters are eligible to vote, and it records all votes securely, then provides the HOA board and community association manager with a full report of the results.
This saves management time, as they no longer have to count the votes manually, and maintains a complete audit trail. For residents, electronic voting means that they no longer have to set aside time to go and vote in person. They can do it from the comfort of their home.
What Features Should Electronic Voting Software Include?
To be able to use online voting in HOAs, you need to have the following features:
Owner Authentication
The first requirement is that you need to be sure that it is the owners who are actually voting. So the software you choose has to identify who is voting and only allow them to vote once.
Anonymous Voting with Verifiable Results
You also need to have the option for votes to remain private, while giving the board the power to audit the results for accuracy.
Automatic Vote Counting
One of the biggest advantages to using software is to reduce manual work, and voting is no exception. Your voting tool should count the votes for you, speeding up the process and removing human mistakes.
Election Audit Trail
The board needs to have a complete audit trail. That includes timestamps for each vote, the participation history, and to maintain complete election records.
Meeting and Voting Integration
Another important aspect of HOA votes and elections is that residents need to know about them. So as well as offering online ballots, you have to send notices to let owners know about the vote and share election documents, so that they are well informed.
That’s why Neigbrs by Vinteum is a great option, as you can let residents know about the vote using Notices, store election documents securely, and hold the vote in one complete solution.
Are Electronic HOA Elections Legal?
Not all states allow HOA elections, so you need to check your state’s laws and consult with your HOA attorney.
Three States That Allow Electronic Voting
California
Under the Civil Code §§ 5105, 5110, 5115, 5120, 5125, 5200, 5260 (Amended by AB 2159), electronic voting is allowed for board elections, amendments to governing documents, and votes concerning common areas. However, special assessments must be done by written ballot.
Florida
According to Florida Stat. 720.317, HOA owners must agree in writing to online voting. The statute also states that the electronic voting software must be able to:
- Authenticate each member’s identity
- Verify the validity of each electronic vote to ensure it wasn’t changed in transit
- Transmit a receipt to each voter who casts an electronic vote
- If your association requires secret ballots, it must separate identifying information so that the member can’t be identified
- Store ballots accessibly for recount, inspection, and review
Texas
TX Code Title 2 § 22.160 allows electronic voting if the HOA’s bylaws enable it.
Electronic Voting Software Comparison for HOAs
Neigbrs by Vinteum
Neigbrs offers an online voting feature. It’s a flexible tool that enables managers to choose between a public or private vote, depending on what your bylaws (and the issue at hand) calls for.
You can also fully customize your ballot to include single-choice, multiple-choice, or open-ended questions. And after the vote ends, you can view a full report to see the results and save it for audit purposes.
Neigbrs also takes care of all reminders for you, sending out automated emails and text messages to save you time.
PayHOA
PayHOA offers online voting, including weighted ballots. It also allows you to choose between having one vote per household or per person. Plus, you can also mail ballots and set up proxy voting.
Vantaca
Vantaca’s online voting is aimed at ARC voting. Your Architectural Review Committee can view requests that need to be voted on, they can check each item and vote. They can also see how many committee members have approved or rejected the request. After the votes finish, the ARC request goes on to its next step, as set up by your management company.
This is a useful feature for large HOAs that have a lot of requests coming through to their ARC. But it doesn’t help with elections or other types of voting.
Condo Control
Condo Control’s online voting feature enables you to gather votes before your AGM or special meeting, to make the meeting more efficient. Managers can also create and schedule votes in advance and send reminders to owners so that they all have a chance to participate.
All votes are securely stored and can be tracked in real-time, so you can see how many are needed to reach quorum. Condo Control also enables proxy votes, ideal for seasonal communities.
AppFolio
AppFolio doesn’t offer online voting. The platform includes a board member approval workflow, where board members can approve or reject invoices and ARC requests, but this is an internal management tool, not a voting feature. There’s no way to run elections, gather homeowner votes, or set up proxy voting directly through AppFolio.
If online voting is a priority for your community, you’d need to rely on a third-party integration to fill that gap.
Common Problems With HOA Electronic Voting
We often hear from HOA boards that they don’t use online voting because no-one would participate, or that they couldn’t guarantee transparency, or it’s just too hard. While we understand the concerns, they can be worked around with the right electronic voting tool.
Low Owner Participation
Getting to quorum is always a struggle, but with online voting, owners get reminders by email and text message, so it’s harder for them to forget or put off voting. That’s especially true since you can vote from your phone, saving owners time and effort.
Election Transparency Concerns
It’s always great to make life easier, but it’s much more important to follow rules around election transparency and auditing.
With electronic voting, you have a complete audit trail built-in. The system will verify who is voting, ensure they only vote once, then compile a report automatically so that you have the full records, ready to be stored.
Managing Multiple Voting Tools
Another issue we find is that boards or managers don’t want to buy another software just for voting. But all the HOA electronic voting tools we mentioned also offer other features. So you don’t need 10 tools to manage your HOA.
For instance, Neigbrs by Vinteum is a complete HOA management software. It offers communication, maintenance, admin and financial management, and much more. If you want to know more about how Neigbrs change communities, schedule your free demo.
How to Choose Electronic Voting Software for Your HOA
When you are deciding which electronic voting software is best for your community association, you need to ask yourself:
- Is electronic voting legally permitted in our state?
- Can owners vote from mobile devices?
- Is voter eligibility automatically verified?
- Are results auditable?
- Does the platform include communications?
- Does it support annual elections and special votes?
- How much administrative work does it eliminate?
- What else does the platform offer us that we would use?
That’s why a platform like Neigbrs by Vinteum is ideal, it allows voting from mobile devices, verifies votes, provides a full report, and the platform also offers 15+ other features that will save you time and increase community satisfaction.
