Community association boards are elected to represent and safeguard the interests of the community. That means when the board is making major decisions and during board elections, residents are involved. A quorum serves as a way of protecting the residents by making sure the majority of homeowners approve decisions. This prevents board members from passing rules or making decisions based on their self-interests. In most community associations, this quorum is a specific number of participants, or a percentage of residents.
Usually, these requirements are in the association’s governing documents. And in case the governing documents don’t outline these requirements, the state law comes in. For example, in Texas, if the association’s governing documents don’t address quorum requirements, the Texas Property Code Section 82.109 mandates a quorum of 20% of owners or proxy voters. And even if the governing documents outline the requirements, Texas community associations can’t make the quorum lower than 10%. In California, the quorum consists of a third of the voters.
Unfortunately, most community associations I have worked with have problems attaining these quorum requirements. This means the board can’t pass major decisions, and things keep getting postponed. Over time, this results in budgeting and project delays. Luckily, as a person who has formal training in property and community association management, and with over 15 years of real-world management experience, I will walk you through the reasons why you can’t get a quorum, and then show you how to fix it.
Reasons why you can’t get a quorum
When we talk about quorum in community associations, it means either the minimum number of participants needed during board meetings and annual meetings, or the minimum number of ballots that need to be submitted during an election. Note that this is slightly different from the majority, which means the number of votes needed during decision-making. Usually, the majority is 50%+1 of the votes, while a quorum is the minimum number of participants required to conduct votes or hold a meeting, which can be as low as 20%. Here are the main reasons you can’t get a quorum.
Busy schedules
Normally, homeowners are busy with daily jobs and families to take care of. It’s hard to know when most of the homeowners are free, so you can schedule a meeting. If you just schedule a meeting arbitrarily, many homeowners might find it difficult to vote or attend in-person meetings due to schedule clashing.
Low interest or lack of awareness
Another reason homeowners fail to participate is when they feel disconnected from the issue on the ballot. For example, in a recent study we did on condo associations, only 38% of residents feel informed of board decisions. In such a case, if you call for voting, the larger, uninformed block might see the process as irrelevant to them and opt not to vote.
Manual voting methods
If your association still relies on in-person and mail-in ballots, then you’ll always have problems with quorum. Residents are busy, and many won’t sacrifice time and resources to come for in-person voting.
Proxy manipulation
When homeowners are busy but have a desire to participate, they usually delegate the duty to a person to vote on their behalf. However, sometimes board members manipulate these proxies to vote their way, instead of the homeowner’s way. That means the board unfairly influences the outcome. Over time, when homeowners learn about this, they might start refusing to use proxies when they aren’t available to vote themselves. This results in a lack of quorum.
Unfair enforcement of rules
This is another common pain point in community associations. Unfair enforcement is when residents receive different treatments and penalties for violating the same rules. For instance, when one owner is penalized for using an unapproved paint color, while another owner uses the same exact paint color and isn’t penalized, that’s unfair. Usually, this makes the penalized residents feel targeted and singled out. This results in distrust and disconnection, which makes these residents unwilling to take part in community events like meetings and voting.
Surprisingly, this group is large. In a survey we did across HOA communities, 43% of residents feel violation enforcement is unfair, compared to only 38% who feel it’s fair. That means the bigger chunk might be unwilling to participate in community affairs, which might be the reason behind your lack of quorum.
Power abuse
This is as straightforward as it sounds. Abuse of power occurs when board members blatantly prevent owners from participating in association meetings or make decisions without involving residents through the ballot. When the board runs like a dictatorship, residents feel alienated and disconnected, and might not be willing to participate in democratic affairs like voting.
For example, if the board makes unilateral decisions on a project and then asks residents to cast a vote on decisions affecting the project, owners might be unwilling, as they were not part of the decision from the beginning.
Divides and factions
Another reason behind the lack of quorum is if board members split into factions and groups, each pushing their interests and priorities. When boards split like this, they end up splitting homeowners into opposing camps. Then the groups turn things into heated debates and animosity. Since there’s no cohesion, it’s almost impossible to reach a consensus, as some groups might intentionally make quorum unreachable to stall the projects they oppose.
How to fix it
After managing community associations and working with property and community association management platforms for over 15 years, I have learnt how HOA and condo associations can address the issue of lacking quorum through clear, early communication and software analytics. Here are some solutions:
Talk to the homeowners
Once you are elected into the HOA or condo board, the first thing I recommend is talking to homeowners in person and establishing their awareness and interest in community decisions. For example, you can talk to the owners about the consequences of failing to attend meetings, such as the board failing to make decisions and implement actions that directly impact their daily lives.
Something else you can mention is that if you consistently keep failing to reach quorums, then the board has no other choice but to petition for receivership. That would mean the court-appointed receiver hires a community management firm to manage the association. The cost associated with management firms will hit back on the monthly fees, which is something residents dislike. By creating this one-on-one awareness, you’ll significantly raise the residents’ desire to participate.
Communicate early
As I mentioned, residents have daily jobs and families to take care of. You need to prepare the homeowners early enough so they can adjust their schedules. I suggest you make communications as early as 1 to 2 months in advance. And don’t stop there. Consistently send reminders so the information doesn’t slip through the cracks.
For example, after you send the initial notice 2 months in advance, send another 1 month before the meeting, then make another 1 week before the meeting, 3 days before the meeting, 1 day before the meeting, and then the final D-day reminder. After all, overcommunication causes no harm.
Use multiple communication channels
Technology is advancing, and so are the channels of communication. Most people want to receive information on their phones, rather than going to check on the physical bulletin boards. Instead of just relying on the traditional communication channels like physical bulletin boards, mail, and physical newsletters, which are time-consuming to prepare and costly, especially when you need consistent reminders, I suggest you take advantage of modern communication channels like mobile apps, text messages, emails, and portals. This increases the chances of homeowners seeing the notices and reminders.
For example, when the homeowner logs into the portal to make monthly payments, they see a banner reminder of the upcoming meeting. Then, 1 day before the meeting, and maybe the D-day, you use text message as a way of urgent reminder.
Keep the communication precise and friendly
When we talk about frequent communication and constant reminders, you must be careful not to exhaust residents with unnecessarily long messages. This problem is more common in email newsletters, where you write long emails and keep sending them. Over time, homeowners become tired, and some ignore the emails. I suggest you keep the communication short and clear. For example, you can write something like:
- Subject: “Last day reminder: vote in the board election by Wednesday”.
- Body: “Hi members, our yearly board election will take place on Wednesday, June 14 at 1400 hrs. Click the link below to vote online. Thank you”
Then provide the voting link.
Make the voting process simple
We have already talked about the owners’ busy schedules, so the voting process should be as simple and convenient as possible. Otherwise, if the process is complicated and takes time, such as requiring physical presence, multiple steps, hard-to-access voting forms, or complex instructions, some residents will just opt not to vote. To avoid this, I suggest you give clear voting guidelines and FAQs on your site where owners can read voting instructions.
Then have an association website or platform where voters can cast their votes online. Even better, I suggest integrating an AI-powered chatbot on your platform. Residents can just ask questions and get tailored guidelines and answers just as they would ask and get answers from a board member. That way, you’ll make sure every willing homeowner has successfully voted.
Use proxies and absentees
Some homeowners might have tight schedules to the extent that they can’t have time to cast votes during the scheduled times. For example, some residents work night shifts, yet meeting and voting times might be day-ends like 5:00 pm. That means the meeting and voting happen when the resident is commuting to work. To make sure these people still have a chance to contribute to decision-making, I suggest you offer proxy and absentee voting.
As I mentioned, a proxy is designated by the homeowner to vote on his/her behalf. On the other hand, an absentee ballot is an option for the homeowner to vote before the meeting happens. Usually, this would mean having an HOA and condo management platform that supports absentee voting. Note that for proxy and absentee voting, they need to be included in the association’s governing documents.
Keep the quorum achievable
Sometimes the lack of quorum stems from your governing documents’ quorum requirements. If your requirements are so high, you’ll have challenges. The good news is that you can petition the court to reduce the requirements. But note that you don’t have the flexibility to eliminate the requirements altogether. One, the court can fail to grant the request. Second, some state laws have strict quorum requirements, and you can’t go lower than that state’s threshold.
For example, the Florida Statutes 720.306 mandates a quorum of 30% unless the CC&Rs and bylaws say otherwise. That means if you eliminate the requirements altogether, the 30% state law kicks in. However, states like California give you more flexibility. The Civil Code Section 5115 mandates a quorum only if the association’s governing documents say so. That means HOAs in California can forego the quorum provisions altogether.
Use technology and analytics
I have talked about things like busy schedules, different channels of communication, reminders, and voting processes. From my experience managing associations, you’ll use lots of resources implementing and running all these things blindly. For example, printing physical newsletters is expensive, yet you can’t tell how effective that channel of communication is.
That’s where modern AI-powered community association management platforms come in. These platforms help you track the residents’ participation, so you can identify which fix works best. Here’s how technology can help you:
Enable e-voting
One of the best ways you can use technology to increase participation is switching from paper ballots to electronic voting. E-voting allows homeowners to cast their votes digitally, through a secure web portal or mobile app, without having to show up in person or mail anything. And since most people are already on their phones, the barrier to participation drops.
From a legal standpoint, things are changing in favor of e-voting. According to the CAI, 32 states currently allow e-voting in managed communities. And the adoption is growing. For example, in 2025, California formally authorized electronic secret ballot voting for HOAs, and Florida expanded its statutes to provide clearer guidance on internet-based and email ballots.
E-voting is straightforward for both the board and the homeowners. Residents receive a notification, click a link, authenticate their identity, and vote. This kind of convenience helps you get quorum even from busy homeowners.
Host virtual AGMs
Another way technology can help you achieve quorum is taking your annual meetings online. Traditionally, AGMs were held in person at a fixed venue, which meant that homeowners who couldn’t physically make it because of things like work, travel, or health, were simply left out.
Virtual AGMs remove that barrier as you can host meetings where board members and residents join from wherever they are, participate in discussions, and cast their votes, all in one platform. One feature you’ll love with virtual AGMs is the ability to record and archive the meeting audio and videos. This creates a transparent, reviewable record of what was discussed and decided, which builds trust that makes homeowners more willing to engage in the future meetings.
Offer online proxy voting
Earlier, I mentioned proxy voting as a way to accommodate homeowners who can’t participate during scheduled meeting times. But the effectiveness of proxies depends on how easy they are to use. If a homeowner has to print a form, fill it out, and mail it in just to assign a proxy, it’s too much work for an already busy homeowner, and many of them simply won’t bother.
With online proxy voting, the homeowner logs into the platform, selects their trusted proxy, and the system takes care of sending the proxy an email notification and granting them access to vote on the homeowner’s behalf. It works like standard proxy voting, just without the paperwork.
One of the biggest advantages of online proxy voting is the security layer they add. With the paper-based process, there is a risk of forms being forged and mishandled. Online proxy voting eliminates that risk by tying the proxy assignment to a secure login. Every action is recorded in digital logs, which means that if a dispute ever arises after an election, you have a clear, auditable trail to follow back on.
Analyze past participation
The platform analyzes resident participation in previous meetings and elections, and reveals trends. For example, the platform can show you that a larger number of residents participated when you used text reminders 1 day before the meeting, or when the meeting was scheduled during a holiday. That way, you can know which method to capitalize in and which method to drop.
Keep things organized
Usually, after voting, homeowners expect to see outcomes. They also expect voting and elections to be transparent and fair. When voting is integrated into your management system, residents can track the processes and outcomes. This builds trust, which in turn makes them willing to participate in future elections. Using online voting platforms also cuts resource use, as you won’t have to deal with paperwork and lost forms.
Final thoughts
Even if your association governing documents and state laws don’t outline quorum requirements, I strongly encourage having one so every homeowner feels incorporated in the community’s decision-making. And when it comes to failing to meet quorum requirements, I suggest you implement the above tips (early and clear communication, reminders, simple voting processes, use of proxies and absentees, and technology analytics).
