Digital HOA board elections built for California law
BallotLink is election software for California HOA board elections run under the Davis-Stirling Act. It is used by Inspectors of Elections, election services companies, management companies, and self-managed boards. Ballot control stays with the inspector — the board and the manager do not get it, because the software does not give it to them.
What BallotLink does
BallotLink runs a California HOA board election end to end — building the ballots, delivering them, collecting them in secret, and producing the result — with the parts the law reserves for the Inspector of Elections reserved for the inspector in software.
- Secret ballots. Ballots are separated from voters in the data model, and results are reported at candidate level.
- Four voting methods — plurality, ranked, cumulative, and approval — chosen when the election is created.
- Email and printed ballots. Printed ballots come out as US Letter PDFs, with the voting period stated on the ballot.
- Write-in resolution by the inspector. Write-in candidates are resolved by the Inspector of Elections, not automatically.
- An audit record on every ballot inspection. Each time a ballot is opened, that view is written to the audit record.
- No results before finalization. Results do not exist in the system until the inspector finalizes the election.
Why the board cannot touch the ballots
Under California Civil Code §5120(c), neither the HOA board nor its management company may control electronic ballots. Most platforms handle this with policy. BallotLink handles it in software.
Ballot management functions exist only for the Inspector of Elections, or an election services company serving as one. Boards and managers do not have the buttons — and if the request is made anyway, the server rejects it. The same rule blocks a management company or a managed association from administering or billing an election for itself.
California Civil Code §5120(c) — AB 2159, effective 2025That is the difference between a platform that says it is compliant and one that is built so the non-compliant action is not available. Read the detail on the compliance page, or how it is enforced on the security page.
Who uses BallotLink
Four groups, with genuinely different jobs: Inspectors of Elections, election services companies, community and property management companies, and self-managed HOA boards.
Inspectors of Elections
Run every election you are appointed to from one place, with an audit record behind each ballot you open.
Election services companies
You can serve as Inspector of Elections where a management company legally cannot. BallotLink is built around that distinction.
Management companies
Set up elections across your whole portfolio, and hand ballot control to an independent inspector as the law requires.
Self-managed HOA boards
Run a compliant board election without a management company, on a per-election price you can budget for.
How an election runs
An inspector sets the election up, members receive and cast ballots during the voting period, and the inspector finalizes the result.
- The Inspector of Elections creates the election, sets the voting method, and provides the election rules for distribution.
- Ballots go out by email, on paper, or both, each stating the voting period.
- Members cast secret ballots during the voting period.
- The inspector resolves any write-in candidates and finalizes the election.
- Results become available once — and only once — it is finalized.
The full walkthrough, including what to prepare beforehand, is onthe how it works page.
How this compares to running a paper election
A paper election means printing, mailing, physically securing, and hand-counting ballots at the meeting. BallotLink keeps the same legal structure and the same inspector, and takes the physical handling out of the middle of it.
| Paper election | BallotLink | |
|---|---|---|
| Ballot delivery | Printed and mailed | Email, printed US Letter PDF, or both |
| Counting | Counted by hand at the meeting | Tabulated when the inspector finalizes |
| Who can reach the ballots | Whoever is physically holding them | The inspector only, enforced by the server |
| Record of ballot access | Whatever the inspector writes down | An audit record per ballot view |
| Voting methods | Whatever the rules specify, counted manually | Plurality, ranked, cumulative, or approval |
What we can show you
Specifics rather than adjectives. Each of these is a property of the software or the company, not a promise about it.
- A California company, on infrastructure we run ourselves, hosted in the United States.
- Ballot control restricted to the Inspector of Elections and enforced on the server, not in the interface.
- An audit record written every time a ballot is opened.
- A 20-day minimum voting period enforced by the system when an election is extended.
- Election rules distribution built into election setup as a required field.
- Per-election pricing rather than per-seat or per-door.
Frequently asked questions
Is electronic voting legal for California HOA elections?
Yes. California law allows HOA board elections to be conducted by electronic secret ballot, subject to the requirements of the Davis-Stirling Act. BallotLink is built to run elections within those requirements.
Can the board see how members voted?
No. Ballots are separated from voters in the data model, and results are reported at candidate level only. Ballot management functions exist only for the Inspector of Elections.
Who runs the election in BallotLink?
The Inspector of Elections, or an election services company acting as one. They configure the election, resolve write-ins, and finalize the results. The board and the management company cannot do any of it.
What voting methods does BallotLink support?
Four: plurality, ranked, cumulative, and approval. The method is set when the election is created, and the ballots are generated to match.
Can members vote on paper instead?
Yes. BallotLink generates printed US Letter ballots as well as emailed ones, with the voting period stated on the ballot itself.
What does BallotLink cost?
BallotLink is priced per election rather than per seat or per door. Published per-election pricing is coming to the pricing page.