In-person HOA meetings in California were standard operating procedure for decades. However, as homeownership has diversified, many HOAs struggled to get members to attend meetings. Using Zoom for HOA meetings in California is now possible thanks to recent changes in the law like the Davis-Stirling Act amendment. This has greatly increased member participation across the board.
HOA voting in California also suffered under prior rules requiring ballots be mailed to members. Additionally, ballots needed to be returned in double envelopes to ensure voter anonymity, and ballots not returned correctly could face difficulties in being counted or risk revealing how a particular member voted.
Under the new laws, online HOA elections are now possible. When combined with meeting tools like Zoom, active member participation in HOAs is stronger than ever.
In a state as large as California, members may not be located within an HOA’s jurisdiction. People often own multiple properties that are not their primary residence and, as a result, cannot attend in-person meetings.
Zoom is one of the most user-friendly online meeting tools on the market. This tool, along with platforms like Google Meet and Microsoft Teams, mean attendees can now be located anywhere. Hybrid HOA meetings in California greatly enhance access for all HOA members, not just locals.
Zoom and similar platforms also include features like digital hand-raising that allow meetings to be conducted in an organized manner. Organizers can call on individuals one at a time to hear their concerns and answer questions while keeping the meeting on track.
Online meeting tools like Zoom are also preferable thanks to their steady live video connections. Prior to this, many hybrid meetings were only able to be attended by dial-in conference calls. Face-to-face interactions have shown a greater ability to produce empathy and understanding between parties, allowing for better communication.
While Zoom is fantastic for holding meetings easily, it is not sufficient for holding votes. This is due to strict laws surrounding elections and voter anonymity. For an election to be truly free and fair, all ballots must be anonymous.
Allowing others to see who a person voted for opens the door to voter intimidation and coercion. A member must be allowed to vote their conscience without worrying what other members or management desires.
Helpfully, online voting tools like ElectionBuddy can be seamlessly integrated with Zoom meetings to allow members to vote anonymously in real-time. Through these tools, members can also access secure documentation, including financial reports, candidate profiles, and non-public proposals. This allows HOAs to keep their documentation and votes out of the hands of non-members and ensures only those with valid credentials can access it.
All of this is accomplished through the same end-to-end encryption used by banks and government agencies. Additional security measures like two-factor authentication also help prevent bad-faith actors from gaining access to the system even if they have the passwords.
The more members who attend meetings both in-person and online, the more faith they have in the HOA overall. However, meetings are only one part of transparency between an HOA and its members. The other part is transparency in voting and results.
ElectionBuddy provides secure, transparent, and auditable voting results to enhance faith in the process. We are also familiar with the Corporate Transparency Act implications for California HOAs and have independent election experts who are qualified to meet the standards of election inspectors under California law. This helps HOAs maintain compliance with legal requirements surrounding online elections.
These third-party inspectors are tasked with restricting access to ballots until the election is complete and the results are announced. If any discrepancies are noted, fully auditable logs are available that detail each vote and how it was cast. Critically, however, all voter information is removed from the ballots, which means they remain anonymous.
Finally, ElectionBuddy offers more than just online voting–we also provide mail-in balloting options for members who prefer to fill out a paper ballot by hand. In this way, even those who are not technically savvy can participate in in-person meetings and use paper documentation just as they always have.
When online meetings through Zoom are combined with the secure platform offered by ElectionBuddy, member engagement can be increased and boost faith in the legitimacy of the HOA election results.
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