California’s SB 323 rewrote the Davis-Stirling Act’s election rules for common interest developments, and the SB 323 California HOA election requirements now govern who can vote, who can appear on the ballot, how notice must be given, who counts the votes, and what happens when a board cuts corners. The law reaches every HOA in the state, whether the property is a condominium tower, a planned development, or a mixed-use community.
Who Can Vote
SB 323 narrowed the grounds an association can use to strip a member’s voting rights. Before the law, boards routinely disqualified owners who were behind on assessments or had violated community rules. That practice is gone. Every person with an ownership interest in a unit is now eligible to vote, and the association’s operating rules must spell out the voting power of each membership and the procedures for authenticating ballots.1California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 5105 A member who owes thousands in unpaid dues or fines keeps the right to cast a ballot.
One narrow exception exists for business entities. If a corporation or LLC owns a unit, it must submit a written statement designating a specific individual to vote on its behalf. Without that paperwork, the association can withhold the ballot for that entity until the designation is filed.1California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 5105 Outside of that administrative step, no “good standing” requirement can keep an owner from participating.
Elections themselves must be conducted by secret ballot for votes on assessments requiring member approval, the election and removal of directors, amendments to the governing documents, and grants of exclusive use of common area.2California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 5100 An association can designate additional topics for secret-ballot treatment in its operating rules.
Who Can Run for the Board
The law limits how an association can disqualify a candidate. There are two categories: mandatory disqualifications the board must enforce and optional disqualifications it may adopt in bylaws or election operating rules.
Mandatory Disqualifications
Every association must disqualify a nominee who is not a member of the association at the time of nomination. A director who stops being a member during their term is likewise disqualified from continuing to serve.1California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 5105 Associations must also disqualify anyone who has already served the maximum number of terms or consecutive terms allowed by the governing documents.3California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 5105 Term limits are fully enforceable and mandatory to apply if the association has adopted them.
Optional Disqualifications
An association may adopt up to four additional grounds for disqualification:
- Delinquent regular or special assessments. The association cannot disqualify a nominee over unpaid fines, collection charges, late fees, or amounts relabeled as assessments. A nominee who is paying under protest, has entered a payment plan, or has not yet been offered internal dispute resolution also cannot be disqualified on this ground.1California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 5105
- Joint ownership with a sitting director. If two people co-own the same unit and one is already on the board or properly nominated for the current election, the association can disqualify the other.1California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 5105
- Membership for less than one year at the time of nomination.1California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 5105
- A criminal conviction that would prevent the association from purchasing or maintaining the fidelity bond insurance required by Civil Code Section 5806.1California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 5105
Those six grounds are the only permissible basis for keeping a member off the ballot. Associations cannot invent additional barriers in their CC&Rs or operating rules. The nomination process must also allow any member to nominate themselves; a procedure that blocks self-nomination is automatically unreasonable under the statute.1California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 5105
Equal Access for Candidates
If the association gives any candidate or member access to its newsletter, website, or other media during a campaign, it must give equal access to every other candidate and member with a viewpoint, including those not endorsed by the board. The association cannot edit or censor these communications, though it may add a disclaimer noting that the content comes from the candidate rather than the association.1California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 5105
The same principle applies to physical space. All candidates, including challengers who are not incumbents, must be allowed to use common-area meeting rooms during the campaign at no cost.1California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 5105
Independent Inspector of Elections
Every HOA election must be overseen by one or three independent inspectors. The association picks them through a method spelled out in its operating rules: the board can appoint them, the membership can elect them, or the association can use another selection process.4California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 5110
The statute lists examples of who qualifies: a volunteer poll worker from the county registrar, a licensed accountant, or a notary public. A regular association member can serve. A current board director, a candidate for the board, and anyone related to a director or candidate cannot. The inspector also cannot be a person or business currently under contract with the association for any paid services other than running the election.4California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 5110 Before SB 323, associations could write exceptions into their own rules to let contracted vendors serve as inspectors. That loophole is closed.
The inspector determines which memberships can vote, receives and secures all ballots, verifies signatures on the outer envelopes, counts votes in a setting where members can observe, and certifies the final results.4California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 5110
Notice and Timeline
The statute lays out three mandatory notice windows, each at least 30 days. Missing any of them can expose the entire election to a legal challenge.
Nomination Notice
The association must give general notice of the nomination procedure and deadline at least 30 days before the nomination deadline closes. If a member specifically requests individual notice, the association must deliver it through individual delivery methods such as first-class mail or email (when the member has given written consent for electronic communication).5California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 5115
Pre-Ballot Notice
At least 30 days before ballots are distributed, the association must send a second general notice containing the candidate list, the date and location for ballot counting, and the deadline for returning ballots. If the governing documents require a quorum, the notice must also explain that a reconvened meeting may occur at least 20 days later with a reduced 20-percent quorum if turnout falls short.5California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 5115
Ballot Distribution
Ballots and two pre-addressed envelopes with return instructions must be mailed first-class or delivered to every member at least 30 days before the voting deadline.5California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 5115 Associations offering electronic voting only need to mail physical ballots to members who will vote on paper.
Because the three windows run consecutively, a well-run election timeline often spans 90 days or more from the first nomination notice to the vote-counting meeting. Boards that try to compress the schedule are the ones most likely to face a challenge.
Uncontested Elections by Acclamation
When fewer candidates run than there are open seats, the association may skip the balloting process and seat the nominees by acclamation, but only if several conditions are met. The association must have held a regular election within the past three years. It must have sent an initial notice at least 90 days before the nomination deadline, followed by a reminder notice between 7 and 30 days before the deadline. Both notices must list the number of open positions, the nomination deadline, how to submit nominations, and a statement explaining that the board may seat candidates without an election if nominees do not exceed vacancies.6California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 5103
Acclamation is optional, not automatic. The board must vote to invoke it, and because the 90-day first notice is significantly longer than the 30-day requirement for a regular election, an association that has not planned ahead usually finds it easier to just hold the vote.
Voter Lists and Election Records
Every association must maintain a candidate registration list and a voter list. The candidate list includes names and addresses of all nominees. The voter list includes each voter’s name, voting power, and either the physical address of their unit or a parcel number (or both). If the mailing address for a ballot differs from the unit address, that has to appear on the list as well.1California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 5105
Members have the right to verify the accuracy of their own information on both lists at least 30 days before ballots go out. Report any error to the inspector, who must correct it within two business days.3California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 5105 Miss the correction window and your ballot could go to the wrong place.
After the election, the association must retain all election materials for at least one year. That includes sealed ballots, signed outer envelopes, and the inspector’s final tally. Members can request to inspect these records under the supervision of the association’s custodian of records, which provides a way to audit results that look off.
Challenging Election Results
Any member can bring a civil action for a violation of the election rules within one year of the date the inspector notifies the board and membership of the results, or within one year of when the problem first becomes apparent, whichever is later.7California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 5145 The case can be filed in superior court or, if the amount at stake is small enough, in small claims court.
The standard of proof tilts toward the challenging member. If you show by a preponderance of the evidence that the association did not follow the election procedures, the court must void the results, unless the association proves its noncompliance did not affect the outcome. That burden shift is where most boards lose. It is not enough for an association to say the error was minor; it has to affirmatively show the result would have been the same regardless.7California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 5145
A member who prevails is entitled to reasonable attorney’s fees and court costs, and the court can impose a civil penalty of up to $500 for each violation. A losing association cannot recover its costs unless the court finds the lawsuit was frivolous. Even in small claims court, a winning member can recover the cost of consulting an attorney.7California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 5145 Fee-shifting is what makes challenges financially viable for individual homeowners against a board that controls the association’s legal budget.