HOA Board Elections: A Homeowner’s Rights Guide

Board elections decide who controls your community’s budget, its rules, and how they’re enforced so the fairness of the process matters. Both California and Nevada set specific procedures HOAs must follow, from secret ballots to independent vote counting. When a board bends those rules to stay in power, homeowners have real ways to push back. Here’s what your election rights actually are.

Do you have a right to a fair HOA election?

Because so much turns on who sits on the board, the law treats election integrity seriously. The requirements aren’t optional best practices they’re statutory, and an election run in violation of them can be challenged and, in some cases, voided.

Your core election rights under California law

A secret ballot

Board-member elections along with other key votes like assessment increases requiring member approval and amendments to the governing documents must be conducted by secret ballot (Civ. Code §5100). The secret-ballot procedure protects owners from pressure or retaliation over how they voted.

An independent inspector of elections

The association must appoint one or three independent inspectors of elections to oversee the process (Civ. Code §5110). The inspector not the sitting board determines who’s entitled to vote, receives and counts the ballots, and certifies the result, which is a key safeguard against a board policing its own re-election.

Written election rules and equal access

Associations must adopt election operating rules (Civ. Code §5105) covering candidate qualifications, nomination procedures, and access to association media and meeting space. If the board sends its own campaign material through the community newsletter, challengers must get equal access. Improperly disqualifying a candidate is a frequent and challengeable violation.

Ballots counted in public

Ballots must be opened and counted in public, at a properly noticed open meeting, and any member may witness the count (Civ. Code §5120). Votes tallied behind closed doors are a red flag that the process wasn’t followed.

The right to run for the board

As a member in good standing, you generally have the right to nominate yourself and run. Associations can apply reasonable, evenly applied qualifications, but they cannot use vague or selectively enforced criteria to keep opponents off the ballot.

How Nevada handles HOA board elections

Nevada’s common-interest-community statute requires associations to follow defined election procedures and gives owners avenues to raise concerns, including through the state’s ombudsman for common-interest communities. The specifics differ from California’s in the details, so the exact procedure your Las Vegas, Henderson, or Reno association must follow comes from NRS 116 and your governing documents.

Nevada rules

Nevada’s fair-housing provisions (NRS Chapter 118) prohibit disability discrimination in housing and require reasonable accommodations, consistent with the federal Act. As in California, a Nevada association cannot rely on a no-pet CC&R to refuse a legitimate assistance animal, and misusing the “service animal” label carries its own consequences under Nevada law. Owners in Las Vegas, Henderson, and Reno communities have the same core protections described above.

What makes an HOA election invalid?

• No secret ballot where one was required.
• No independent inspector, or a board member improperly running the count.
• Ballots counted privately rather than at an open, noticed meeting.
• Improper candidate disqualification or unequal access to association media.
• Defective notice of the election or of nomination deadlines.

Any of these can be grounds to challenge the result. Because elections often turn on records ballots, notices, and meeting minutes an association that then withholds those records may be compounding the problem.

How to challenge an improper HOA election

1. Document the violation. Save notices, ballots, meeting minutes, and any communications showing where the process broke down.

2.Raise it through the association’s process first. In California, use internal and alternative dispute resolution; this is often required before litigation.

3. Request the election records. You’re entitled to inspect many of them, and they’re frequently where the violation is proven.

4. Act within the deadline. In California, a member generally must file a civil action to challenge election violations within one year (Civ. Code §5145), and a prevailing member may recover costs and attorney’s fees.

5. Get advice early. Election challenges are procedure-heavy and time-limited, so legal guidance at the start protects your options.

When to talk to an attorney

Consider legal advice when a board disqualifies candidates without a clear basis, counts ballots privately, skips the independent inspector, or refuses to produce election records. These are exactly the situations the statutes were written to prevent, and the one-year window in California makes acting promptly important. For the wider set of protections behind these rules, see the California homeowner rights guide.

Frequently asked questions