Voting and election rules and regulations for HOAs can vary drastically from state to state and community to community.
Some communities who have approached us have the requirement for anonymous voting, in which secret ballots are submitted by residents during board elections. This type of voting is common in states like California and New Jersey that require it and other communities that have it written into their bylaws.
The traditional method for anonymous voting involves mailing residents a ballot with two self-addressed envelopes. Residents complete the ballot, unsigned, and insert it into the first envelope. This first envelope is free from any resident identifiers such as name, address, lot, or unit number. Residents then insert the first envelope into the second envelope that contains a resident identifier on it. Volunteers or an independent third party collect the envelopes, and mark off which residents have voted, but count the unmarked ballots in the first envelopes separately from the voter list.
This process is time-consuming and costly given the printing, mailing, and management expenses.
Our digital approach to anonymous voting is different.
Residents follow our online registration process before voting.
Once voting is finished, election officials or HOA managers can then view the results. However, results reports are separated into completed households and election results. Election officials and managers can therefore see separately which households voted, and candidate vote totals, but can not tie the two back to each other. This reporting complies with anonymous voting requirements while eliminating the costly and timely process of hard copy and in-person voting.
If you’d like to reach out and schedule a call with us about adding this service or providing this app to your residents, please click here.
