Election software for Inspectors of Elections
BallotLink is the software an Inspector of Elections uses to run a California HOA board election: build the ballots, deliver them, keep them secret, and produce the result. The functions the law reserves for you are reserved for you in the software — the board and the management company cannot reach them. Every ballot you open is written to an audit record.
The problem inspectors deal with today
You are the one who has to defend the election if somebody challenges it, and the tooling usually gives you nothing to defend it with.
An inspector appointed across several associations is typically running each election on a different stack: the association's own paper process, a management company's spreadsheet, a generic survey tool that was never built for a secret ballot. The ballots sit wherever they sit. Access to them is a matter of who is in the room. When a member asks who looked at the ballots and when, the answer is whatever anyone happened to write down — and your independence is the thing being questioned.
What BallotLink does for you
It gives you one place to run every election you are appointed to, and a record behind each action that shows you ran it properly.
- Set the election up yourself — voting method, candidates, voting period, and the election rules for distribution.
- Choose the voting method the rules call for — plurality, ranked, cumulative, or approval — and get ballots generated to match.
- Deliver ballots by email, on paper, or both. Printed ballots are US Letter PDFs stating the voting period.
- Resolve write-in candidates yourself. Write-ins come to you, not to an algorithm.
- Open a ballot and have that view recorded. Every ballot inspection writes an audit record.
- Finalize when you are ready. No result exists in the system until you finalize the election.
Why the board cannot interfere
Because the software does not let it, and that is checked on the server rather than hidden in the interface.
Under California Civil Code §5120(c), neither the HOA board nor its management company may control electronic ballots. In BallotLink, ballot management functions exist only for the Inspector of Elections or an election services company serving as one. A management company or a managed association also cannot administer or bill an election for itself.
California Civil Code §5120(c) — AB 2159, effective 2025This matters to you specifically: it means the answer to "could the board have gotten at the ballots?" is no by construction, not no by assurance. More on the compliance page.
How to get started
Get in touch, and we set you up as an inspector so you can run your first election.
- Tell us about the election — the association, the voting method, and roughly when it runs.
- We set you up with an inspector account.
- You create the election, set the voting method, and add the election rules for distribution.
- Ballots go out, members vote, and you finalize the result.
What it costs you
BallotLink is priced per election, not per seat and not per door — so an inspector working across many associations pays per election run, not for a platform sitting idle between them.
Per-election numbers are on the pricing page.
The objection we hear most
"If this election gets challenged, does this software actually help me?"
Honestly: it helps with the parts that are records, and it does not do your job for you. What it gives you is an audit record of every ballot inspection, a result that provably did not exist before you finalized, and ballot access that was never available to the board or the manager in the first place. What it does not give you is a substitute for your own independence and judgement as inspector — those remain yours, which is the point of the role.
Questions inspectors ask
Does BallotLink replace the Inspector of Elections?
No. BallotLink is the tool an inspector uses. Every decision the law reserves for the inspector — resolving write-ins, finalizing the election — is made by the inspector in the software.
Can a board member or manager see ballots while voting is open?
No. Ballot management functions exist only for the Inspector of Elections or an election services company serving as one. The server rejects the request from anyone else.
What record is kept of who looked at a ballot?
Every time a ballot is opened, that view is written to the audit record. The record is per view, not per session.
When do results become available?
Only after the inspector finalizes the election. Before finalization, results do not exist in the system for anyone to see, including the inspector.
Can I run a ranked or cumulative election?
Yes. BallotLink supports plurality, ranked, cumulative, and approval voting. The method is set when the election is created and the ballots are generated to match.
What if some members will not vote electronically?
Print their ballots. BallotLink generates US Letter PDF ballots alongside emailed ones, with the voting period stated on the ballot.