Electronic Voting for California HOAs
Every vote received. Every step recorded. Every record retained.
BallotLink is election software built specifically for California HOA board elections under the Davis-Stirling Act. It replaces mailing, hand-counting, and reconvened meetings with a system that runs the whole election — from ballots to certified results — while keeping the parts the law reserves for the Inspector of Elections in the inspector's hands.
For the person actually casting a ballot, it's simple: they go to their personalized link and enter a simple voter ID — no account to create. No mail delay in either direction, and no one gets left out because they were traveling or couldn't make the meeting.
What BallotLink does
- Supports plurality, cumulative, and approval voting, with more methods in development.
- Digitizes the three-envelope system entirely — the voter never sees it happen. No stamp, no outer envelope, no inner envelope, just a link.
- Opt-out, not opt-in. Only the members who choose paper get a mailed ballot — instead of mailing every household in the community.
- The Inspector of Elections can count, tabulate, and resolve any write-ins before finalizing the election — instead of hours of hand-counting on election night.
Who uses BallotLink
Election Services Companies
Run every election you’re appointed to, and serve as Inspector of Elections where a Management Company legally can’t. BallotLink is built around that distinction.
Management Companies
Set up elections across your whole portfolio, and hand ballot control to an independent inspector as the law requires.
Self-Managed HOAs
Run a compliant board election without a management company, on a per-election price you can budget for.
How an election runs
- Election material — the voter list, candidates, ballot questions — is imported into BallotLink.
- The Self-Managed HOA, Management Company, or Election Services Company running the election schedules it and prepares the ballots.
- Everything gets reviewed before anything goes out.
- Ballots go out — electronically by email through BallotLink, or as a printed, ready-to-mail PDF for anyone who's opted out.
- Members vote — click the email link to cast an electronic ballot, mail back a paper one, or hand one in at the meeting.
- The inspector resolves any write-in candidates.
- The inspector finalizes the election at the counting meeting, and results become available.
The full walkthrough is on how it works.
Why BallotLink exists
“Running a paper election on our self-managed board means our whole committee gathering to stuff, seal, and address envelopes — an assembly line that eats a Friday night nobody really wants to give up, especially when the election's already tense. BallotLink removes that step entirely. Members vote online unless they choose paper — anyone who opts out is the only one who still gets a mailed ballot, and that's handled by the board, not by BallotLink. It also solves the harder problem: turnout. People who don't check the mail, or find a paper ballot too much hassle to fill out and send back, are far more likely to vote when it's a link instead of an envelope. That's the difference between hitting quorum and not.”
In the Foundation for Community Association Research's Homeowner Satisfaction Survey, preference for electronic voting has edged up over the last two years — from 35% in 2024 to 37% in 2026 — while preference for paper ballots slipped from 26% to 24%. Most residents now prefer voting electronically or are equally happy either way.
Source: Foundation for Community Association Research, 2024 and 2026 Homeowner Satisfaction Surveys.
Questions about HOA electronic voting
Is electronic voting legal for California HOAs?
Yes, since AB 2159 took effect January 1, 2025. Civil Code § 5105(i) allows an association to adopt an electronic voting rule without amending its governing documents. Read § 5105 on the official California Legislative Information site.
Can the board see how members voted?
No. Vote choices are stored separately from voter identity, and ballot management functions exist only for the Inspector of Elections.
Who runs the election in BallotLink?
Every BallotLink election has an Inspector of Elections, and the inspector has final authority — determining voter eligibility, ruling on challenges, and certifying results are legally the inspector’s job, not the association’s or the management company’s (§ 5110(b)). The account holder — an Election Services Company, Management Company, or Self-Managed HOA — sets up the election and sends ballots out from their own login. The inspector works in a separate portal with their own access. An Election Services Company can serve as the inspector, because election services is all it does for the association; a Management Company or Self-Managed HOA can’t inspect its own election and brings in an independent inspector — often one an Election Services Company provides. The two sides are separate accounts and can’t see into each other: returned ballots never appear on the setup side, and come back only on the inspector’s side, where the inspector reviews, resolves any write-ins, and finalizes. An election can be assigned one inspector or several (§ 5110(d)).
What happens if we don’t hit quorum?
The association can extend the voting window 20 to 30 days instead of restarting the election (Civil Code § 5115).