Adding online voting does not remove the need for a coordinated condominium election process. Northwest Florida boards should plan paper ballots, electronic consents, candidate materials, vendor controls, and meeting procedures together. Florida Administrative Code Rules 61B-23.0021 and 61B-23.00211 supply election details, while current sections 718.112 and 718.128 provide the statutory framework.
Keep the notice calendar consistent
Rule 61B-23.0021 provides for a first election notice at least sixty days beforehand, candidate notices received at least forty days beforehand, and candidate information sheets supplied at least thirty-five days beforehand. The second notice generally goes out fourteen to thirty-four days before the election. Candidate information must not be edited by the association, and the second-notice package must not contain board endorsements or criticism of candidates.
Protect both voting channels
The paper process separates the signed identifying outer envelope from the secret ballot in its inner envelope. Rule 61B-23.00211 requires online voting receipts and records and prohibits association access to electronic election votes before the scheduled election. Its specified consequence for premature access is a void election and re-noticing.
Both rules have a March 21, 2016 effective date in the current official rule index. The DBPR rules compilation supplies their text, but older compilation material elsewhere should not be assumed to reflect every later statutory amendment.
Use the current statute for the online system
Section 718.128 requires owner consent, authentication, ballot integrity, and a way to confirm device compatibility at least fourteen days before the voting deadline. Board-election identifying information must be permanently separated from ballots. The system must preserve votes for authorized recount, inspection, and review. A vendor’s ordinary survey product is not enough merely because it can total responses.
Current law also has a distinct email-ballot procedure for associations that have not approved online voting, with its own disclosures and requirements. Do not combine that procedure with the anonymous online-system workflow or describe ordinary emailed ballots as inherently secret. Have counsel approve the selected route and corresponding instructions.
A practical election checklist
- Assign a calendar owner and a backup. Have both independently verify the election date and each preparation milestone before printing notices.
- Ask the voting vendor to demonstrate access controls using a test election. Confirm who can see results, when access becomes available, and what audit material can be exported afterward.
- Prepare a single voter reconciliation process so that staff can identify participation across channels without attaching an owner’s identity to a secret ballot.
- Inspect a complete sample mailing rather than approving separate files in isolation. Check envelopes, candidate materials, ballot layout, return address, and online instructions together.
- Document the handoff to impartial election personnel and establish a process for preserving disputed materials without improvising a ruling during counting.
Small-association alternative procedures and unusual elections require separate applicability review. This overview addresses condominium elections, not Chapter 720 HOA elections, and is not a complete election manual. Resolve uncertainty before voting begins, when a corrected plan is easier to communicate.
Reviewed November 4, 2026. Educational information only; obtain association-specific legal advice before acting.