Start to finish
How an HOA electronic election works
An electronic election on BallotLink runs through a seven-step setup wizard, a voting period during which BallotLink shows whether quorum has been met, and a manual finalization by the Inspector of Elections. Nothing counts itself — results exist only after a person finalizes the election.
Set up the election
A seven-step wizard builds the election.
Ballot configuration and seats. Questions and measures sit on the same ballot as the board race. The quorum rule is set here, from three styles: a flat count, a percentage, or a percentage plus one. The election is assigned one Inspector of Elections or three. A test election runs the same sequence as a live one, so the whole process can be walked before anything reaches a member.
Plurality, cumulative, and approval voting are supported, set per election.
Load the voters
Membership is uploaded as a CSV.
BallotLink provides a blank template. This list is what ballots, quorum, and submission checks all run against. Members without a usable email address, and members who prefer paper, are handled as paper voters.
Ballots go out
Electronic voters get a personalized ballot link with a QR code.
Paper voters get printed ballot PDFs and complete vote-by-mail packets — cover sheet, ballot, and all three envelopes. Only members who vote on paper get a mailed ballot, so the mailing is limited to them rather than to every household. Electronic and paper ballots run in the same election rather than in two parallel ones, and the same inspector certifies the combined result.
Voting is open
BallotLink shows whether quorum has been met while voting is open.
One ballot per household. The rule is built into the system itself, not just the screens a person uses — so a second ballot is rejected no matter how it's submitted, and every rejected attempt is logged. If quorum is not met, the association can extend the voting window 20 to 30 days instead of restarting the election.
When a member casts their ballot, they see an on-screen confirmation and receive an emailed receipt confirming it was received.
The Inspector of Elections works
The inspector enters mail-in ballots and resolves write-ins.
Write-ins are off by default and, where an association enables them, there is one slot per ballot. Every ballot view is logged as an access record, per association and per election.
Results
Results are available on screen the moment the Inspector finalizes the count.
Results are produced after finalization, not before, and cover the electronic and paper ballots together.
Software runs the ballot. People run the election.
While voting is open, turnout is visible — how many ballots are in, and which households have voted — so reminders can go to the right members. What no one can see is how anyone voted: no vote totals exist anywhere in the system until the Inspector of Elections — a person — clicks Finalize. Counting happens only then, and only if quorum is met.
- Nominations and candidate statements — nominations happen off-platform; an administrator enters the names of who's running. BallotLink does not create, collect, or mail candidate statements.
- Printing and mailing — BallotLink generates the ballot and the complete vote-by-mail packet as PDFs; printing and mailing are done by a person at the Election Services Company, Management Company, or association.
- Proxy voting — a proxy is a member authorizing someone else to cast a vote on their behalf. BallotLink does not support proxies; every vote is cast by the member through their own ballot.