How do you force an HOA to hold an overdue or skipped board election?
Reviewed by the OurHOA team · Updated July 2026
When a board won't hold the required election and directors cling to their seats, owners have tools: a written demand, a member-called meeting, and in many states a court order compelling an election.
The rule boards sometimes ignore
Almost every set of bylaws, backed by state nonprofit-corporation and HOA law, requires the association to hold a regular election of directors on a set schedule - usually once a year. Directors do serve until their successors are elected, which is a sensible gap-filler, but that holdover rule is not a license to skip elections indefinitely and stay in office by simply never scheduling a vote. When a board lets an election lapse for a year or more, it is operating outside its own governing documents, and owners have several escalating tools to force the issue.
Start with the record and a written demand
Before anything else, pin down the facts. Use your records-inspection rights to confirm when the last election actually happened and what your bylaws say about election timing and terms - our guide on how to request HOA records explains how to get minutes and election materials. Then send the board a written demand: cite the specific bylaw and statute requiring a regular election, note how overdue it is, and ask them to schedule and notice one by a reasonable date. A clear, dated demand often resolves it on its own, and it builds the paper trail you will need if you have to escalate.
Call the meeting yourselves
If the board won't act, owners generally don't have to wait for them. Most bylaws and state statutes let a set percentage of members petition to call a special meeting - including one to elect directors - and the same secret-ballot election procedures apply as at an annual meeting. Our guide on how to call an HOA special meeting covers the petition threshold, notice, and quorum mechanics. Line up an independent inspector of elections and follow your state's balloting rules - California's Civil Code 5100, for instance, requires a secret double-envelope ballot for director elections - so the results are clean and hard to challenge later.
The court-ordered election
When a board stonewalls even a member-called meeting, many states give owners a powerful backstop: a court can summarily order an election. Under California Corporations Code 7510(e), for example, if a required meeting to elect directors is not held for 60 days after its designated date - or for 15 months since the last one - a member can petition the superior court, which may order the meeting held and can even set a reduced quorum so a stubborn low turnout cannot defeat it. Florida's HOA Act likewise requires annual meetings and gives owners administrative and judicial avenues when a board refuses. This route exists precisely because holdover directors sometimes avoid elections; the law does not let them run out the clock forever.
How this differs from a recall or a challenge
Keep the remedies straight, because they solve different problems. Forcing an overdue election is about making the board hold the vote it skipped. Removing a sitting director before their term ends is a recall - a separate petition-and-vote process covered in our guide on how to remove an HOA board member. And contesting how an election that did happen was run is an election challenge, covered in our guide on how to challenge an HOA election. If the association has gone completely dark - no board, no meetings, no one in charge - the more drastic path is a court-appointed receiver, which our guide on what happens if an HOA has no board or goes defunct explains.
How OurHOA helps
Skipped elections thrive in the dark - owners often can't even tell when the last one was held. OurHOA helps small self-managed communities keep election dates, terms, notices, and meeting records organized and visible, so an overdue election is obvious instead of quietly forgotten, and so a member-called election has the clean records and notices it needs to hold up. OurHOA is record-keeping software, not a law firm, so before you petition a court or run a member-called election, confirm the deadlines and procedures in your bylaws and state law with a qualified professional.
OurHOA is the friendly, affordable way self-managed communities keep dues, records, and reminders in one place. See how it works.
These guides are general education for HOA boards and residents, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Rules vary by state and by your community's governing documents - check with a professional for your situation.