Adopting Online Voting in a Florida HOA or Condo: The Resolution, the Notice, and Owner Consent

By Carlos Castellano · Current as of October 15, 2026

Florida lets both homeowners’ associations and condominium associations hold elections and other owner votes through an online voting system. The HOA rule is Section 720.317, Florida Statutes, and the condo rule is Section 718.128. Both work the same basic way: the board adopts a resolution, the system meets a list of statutory requirements, and each owner who wants to vote online consents first. This article walks through adoption in the order a board does it, with the statute for each step and the places where the two chapters differ. How the election itself runs is covered in how Florida HOA board elections work and how Florida condo board elections work.

What online voting can be used for

Section 720.317(1) provides that an HOA “may conduct elections and other membership votes through an Internet-based online voting system if a member consents, electronically or in writing, to online voting” and the statutory requirements are met. Section 718.128 says the same for a condominium’s “elections and other unit owner votes.” Neither section is limited to director elections. Section 720.317(5) provides that it “may apply to any matter that requires a vote of the members,” and Section 718.128(8) applies it to any matter that requires a vote of the unit owners, other than owners in a timeshare condominium.

Online voting is an option the association offers. Each owner decides whether to use it, and owners who do not consent keep voting the way the governing documents and the statute already provide.

Step 1: Notice the board meeting

The resolution is adopted at a board meeting, and the two chapters set different notice for it.

HOA. Section 720.317(3) provides: “Written notice of a meeting at which the board resolution regarding online voting will be considered must be mailed, delivered, or electronically transmitted to the unit owners and posted conspicuously on the condominium property or association property at least 14 days before the meeting.” The person who gives the notice signs an affidavit of compliance, which is filed with the official records. A board that wants online voting in place for its next election should schedule this meeting early enough that the 14 days, the consent deadline, and the election notice all fit.

Condo. Section 718.128 has no separate notice period for this meeting. Until July 1, 2025, Section 718.128(4) carried the same 14-day mailed and posted notice and affidavit that the HOA section still has. HB 913 (chapter 2025-175) deleted that sentence. In our reading, the meeting now takes the ordinary condo board-meeting notice under Section 718.112(2)(c)1.: notice that specifically identifies all agenda items, “posted conspicuously on the condominium property at least 48 continuous hours before the meeting.” Check the bylaws, which may require more, and list the resolution as its own agenda item. The full set of notice rules is in Florida board meeting notice requirements.

Step 2: Adopt the resolution

Section 720.317(3) provides that the section applies to an association that authorizes an online voting system “by a board resolution,” and it sets what the resolution must contain:

“The board resolution must provide that members receive notice of the opportunity to vote through an online voting system, must establish reasonable procedures and deadlines for members to consent, electronically or in writing, to online voting, and must establish reasonable procedures and deadlines for members to opt out of online voting after giving consent.”

Section 718.128(4) uses the same words for unit owners. So the resolution has three required parts:

• Notice to owners. How owners will be told that online voting is available.
• Consent. How an owner consents, in writing or electronically, and the deadline for consenting before a vote.
• Opt-out. How an owner who consented can withdraw, and the deadline for doing so.

The statute asks for “reasonable” procedures and deadlines and does not set the dates. The board picks them, and they should leave time for the 14-day device check in Step 5. For a condo, Section 718.128(4) adds one more rule: “If the board authorizes online voting, the board must honor a unit owner’s request to vote electronically at all subsequent elections, unless such unit owner opts out of online voting.”

Step 3: Use a system that meets the statute

Both sections list what the online voting system must be able to do. Under Section 720.317(1)(b) and Section 718.128(2), the system must:

• Authenticate the owner’s identity.
• Authenticate the validity of each electronic vote, to ensure it is not altered in transit.
• Transmit a receipt to each owner who casts an electronic vote.
• Permanently separate any authentication or identifying information from the ballot, so a ballot cannot be tied to a specific owner.
• Store the ballots and keep them accessible to election officials for recount, inspection, and review.

The ballot-separation requirement is where the chapters differ. For an HOA, Section 720.317(1)(b)4. applies it only “if the association’s bylaws provide for secret ballots for the election of directors.” For a condo, Section 718.128(2)(d) applies it to every election of the board, and Section 718.128(1)(b) also requires the association to give each owner a method to transmit a board election ballot “that ensures the secrecy and integrity of each ballot.” That matches the condo rule that director elections are by secret ballot.

The association also gives each owner three things under Section 720.317(1)(a): a method to authenticate their identity to the system, a method to confirm the device works (Step 5), and a method consistent with the election and voting procedures in the bylaws. Section 718.128(1) gives condo owners the first two, plus the secret-ballot method above.

Step 4: Collect each owner’s consent

An owner votes online only after consenting, electronically or in writing, under the procedure the resolution set. Section 720.317(4) provides that a member’s consent “is valid until the member opts out of online voting,” and Section 718.128(5) says the same for unit owners. Consent carries forward from one vote to the next. Keep a list of who has consented and who has opted out, with the date of each, because that list decides who gets an online ballot.

Owners who have not consented vote by the usual methods. For an HOA, that is whatever the governing documents and Section 720.306(8) allow. For a condo, it is the secret two-envelope ballot or voting in person. Section 718.128(7) requires a condo to designate an email address for ballots “[u]nless the association has adopted electronic voting in accordance with subsections (1)-(6),” so that requirement applies only to a condo that has not adopted a system. The email-ballot rules are in how Florida condo board elections work.

Step 5: Before each vote

Section 720.317(1)(a)2. and Section 718.128(1)(c) require the association to give each owner “[a] method to confirm, at least 14 days before the voting deadline, that the member’s electronic device can successfully communicate with the online voting system.” Count back 14 days from the close of voting and make sure the test is available by then. After the vote, the system sends each online voter a receipt and stores the ballots for any recount. For an HOA, Section 720.303(4)(a)12. makes ballots and “all other papers and electronic records relating to voting by parcel owners” official records, kept for at least 1 year after the election.

Online votes and quorum

Section 720.317(2) provides: “A member voting electronically pursuant to this section shall be counted as being in attendance at the meeting for purposes of determining a quorum.” Section 718.128(3) says the same for unit owners, and then adds a limit: “A substantive vote of the unit owners may not be taken on any issue other than the issues specifically identified in the electronic vote, when a quorum is established based on unit owners voting electronically pursuant to this section.” At a condo meeting that reaches quorum through online votes, the owners vote only on what was on the electronic ballot.

When condo owners petition for online voting

Section 718.128(6), added by HB 913 in 2025, lets condo owners require the board to take up the resolution: “If at least 25 percent of the voting interests of a condominium petition the board to adopt a resolution for electronic voting for the next scheduled election, the board must hold a meeting within 21 days after receipt of the petition to adopt such resolution. The board must receive the petition within 180 days after the date of the last scheduled annual meeting.” Chapter 720 has no matching petition rule for HOAs.

One related condo rule: Section 718.112(2)(d)1. provides that if a unit owner meeting is conducted by video conference, “a unit owner may vote electronically in the manner provided in s. 718.128.” A condo that plans to hold its annual meeting by video conference uses the same adopted system for the votes taken there.

The steps in order

1. Read the bylaws for election procedures, secret ballots, and any board-meeting notice rule longer than the statute’s.
2. Notice the board meeting: 14 days mailed or delivered and posted, with an affidavit, for an HOA (Section 720.317(3)); the regular board-meeting notice for a condo (Section 718.112(2)(c)1.).
3. Adopt the resolution with its three parts: owner notice, consent procedure and deadline, and opt-out procedure and deadline.
4. Confirm the system meets every requirement in Step 3.
5. Tell owners online voting is available, and collect consents.
6. Before each vote, offer the device check at least 14 days before the voting deadline.
7. Keep the consent list, the receipts, and the stored ballots.