How do we run our HOA board election, from the call for candidates to announcing results?

By OurHOA · General information · Revised October 27, 2026

How to run an HOA board election step by step: candidate call, notices, ballots, who counts them, and the Texas, Florida and Colorado deadlines boards miss.

Part of the HOA board handbook: running the board.

The short answer

Run the election from a written calendar that starts with your bylaws and ends with signed minutes. Count back from the meeting date to fix three dates and one decision: when you ask for candidates, when nominations close, when notices and ballots go out, and who counts the votes. State law sets minimums for most of these, and the minimums differ. Texas, Florida and Colorado examples are below. Where your bylaws ask for more notice or a stricter process than the statute, follow the bylaws as long as they don't conflict with the statute. Rules vary by state and by each community's governing documents, so treat this as education, not legal advice, and have the association's attorney look over your calendar and ballot the first time you use them.

Start with the bylaws and set the calendar

Pull the bylaws and the declaration and write down six things: how many seats are open this year and for how long, whether terms are staggered, the quorum for the annual meeting, how candidates get nominated (in advance, from the floor, or both), which voting methods the documents allow (in person, proxy, absentee, electronic), and how a tie is broken. If a seat is open because someone resigned midterm, check whether the person appointed to it serves to the end of the original term. Texas section 209.00593(a) and Florida section 720.306(9)(c) both say an appointee to a vacancy fills out the unexpired term, unless Florida bylaws provide otherwise. Then put the dates on one page and hand it to whoever will send the notices. A board that sets the calendar in a single meeting, 75 to 90 days out, rarely ends up rushing a notice.

Ask for candidates the way the law requires

In Texas, an association with more than 100 lots must send a call for candidates at least 10 days before it sends any ballots, and the deadline to respond cannot be earlier than the 10th day after the notice goes out (Property Code section 209.00593(a-1)). The notice is mailed to each owner, or posted on common property or the association website and emailed to every owner who has registered an email address. Every eligible candidate who asked in time must appear on the ballot. Texas also voids most limits on who may run (section 209.00591). The bylaws can require some, but not all, directors to live in the community, and in an association with 10 or more residences two people who share a primary residence cannot both serve. In Florida, any member may serve except a person who is delinquent to the association on the last day to be nominated, or a person convicted of a felony whose civil rights have not been restored for at least five years (section 720.306(9)(b)). Florida also lets members nominate themselves from the floor unless your process takes nominations in advance. A call for candidates can be as plain as this: The board will elect three directors to two-year terms at the annual meeting on March 12. Any owner in good standing may run. To be listed on the ballot, send your name, lot number and a statement of up to 200 words to the secretary at the address below by February 6. Our guide on how to recruit HOA board candidates covers how to get more names on that list.

Send the meeting notice and the ballots

Texas requires written notice of an election held at a meeting no fewer than 10 and no more than 60 days before the vote (section 209.0056(a)). For a vote taken without a meeting, notice goes out at least 20 days before the last day ballots can be turned in. A vote in a board election must be in writing and signed (section 209.0058), but signed ballots are not required for an uncontested race, and electronic ballots count as written and signed. Every Texas owner must be offered at least one of absentee ballot, proxy or electronic ballot (section 209.00592). If you mail absentee ballots, the packet must carry the warning paragraph printed in section 209.00592(c) word for word, so copy it from the statute rather than paraphrasing. In Florida, if the bylaws don't set their own notice rule, the association must mail, deliver or email notice at least 14 days before the meeting, and the person who sends it signs an affidavit that goes into the official records (section 720.306(5)). Colorado requires notice no fewer than 10 and no more than 50 days ahead, hand delivered or mailed to each unit, posted where practical, and listing the agenda items (C.R.S. 38-33.3-308(1)). If the association uses email, owners who give it an address and ask for email notice must get the notice that way too (38-33.3-308(2)(b)).

Decide who counts, before anyone votes

Texas and Colorado say it outright: the people on the ballot don't touch the ballots. In Texas, a candidate, or anyone related to a candidate within the third degree by blood or marriage, may not count or even see the ballots, and the person who counts may not tell anyone how an individual voted (section 209.00594). If the association uses secret ballots, each candidate may name one observer to watch the count without seeing who cast which ballot (section 209.0058(d)). Colorado requires a secret ballot for every contested board seat, unless directors are elected by delegates, and has the ballots counted by a neutral third party or by a committee of volunteer owners. The chair picks those volunteers in a fair manner at an open meeting, and they can be neither directors nor candidates (C.R.S. 38-33.3-310(1)(b)). Results are reported without names or unit numbers. Florida's HOA statute focuses on envelope handling instead. It uses a two-envelope system for absentee secret ballots: an outer envelope signed with the owner's name and lot, an inner blank one with the ballot. If two ballots arrive for the same lot, both are thrown out, and ballots that come in after balloting closes don't count (section 720.306(8)(b)). Name the counters in the minutes of the meeting where you set the calendar, and give them a one-page tally sheet with two signature lines.

A sample timeline

Here is one way a Texas association with 140 lots might schedule a March 12 annual meeting. December 15: the board adopts the calendar, approves the ballot form and names two owners who are not running to count. January 20: the call for candidates goes out by mail and email. February 6: nominations close, 17 days after the call. February 10: the board confirms the candidate list, and the secretary checks each name against the eligibility rules. February 14: meeting notice and absentee ballots go out, 26 days before the meeting and well inside the 10 to 60 day window. March 11 at 5 p.m.: the deadline for mailed and emailed ballots. March 12: the meeting confirms quorum, takes floor nominations if the bylaws allow them, closes voting, and the counters tally in the room with any candidate observers present. March 13: results go to every owner. A Florida association would run the same steps with at least 14 days of notice and the notice affidavit. A Colorado association would keep the notice between 10 and 50 days and appoint its counters at an open meeting.

After the vote

Announce the results to all owners in writing within a day or two, record the tally in the annual meeting minutes, and seal the ballots, tally sheets and proxies in an envelope signed across the flap by the counters. Keep them at least as long as anyone can contest the result. In Texas, any owner may demand a recount within 15 days after the meeting or the announcement of the results, whichever is later. The owner pays the estimated cost up front, and the recount is done by a qualified neutral person such as a current or former county judge or county elections administrator (section 209.0057). Our guide on what to do when an owner asks for an HOA election recount walks through that process. In Florida, a challenge to the election process must be started within 60 days after the results are announced, and each new director has 90 days to file a certificate of completing the state-approved director education. A director who misses that deadline is suspended until it is filed (sections 720.306(9)(a) and 720.3033(1)). Then update the bank signature cards, the officer list and any state filing that names directors.

Mistakes boards make

An incumbent director who is running counts the ballots, or watches over the shoulder of the people who do. In Texas that breaks section 209.00594 and hands any challenger an easy argument. Everywhere else it looks bad. A board leaves off a candidate who asked to be listed on time because the request went to an old email address. Fix that by publishing one address for nominations and checking it daily until the deadline. Notice goes out on day 9 instead of day 10, or day 61, because nobody counted the calendar. Count from the mailing date, and add a few days of cushion at both ends. Old proxies get counted. Florida proxies expire 90 days after the meeting they were given for, and Colorado proxies end 11 months after their date unless they say otherwise. And a board changes the voting rules after nominations open. If the election process needs work, amend it after this election, not during it, and the board avoids both the dispute and the appearance of favoring incumbents.

Sources

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.

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