The Board Election Calendar: Working Backward From the Annual Meeting in a Condominium, HOA or Cooperative

Jason Hamilton Mikes, JD, MBA
Founder & Managing Shareholder

• Published September 25, 2026
• Reviewed by Jason Hamilton Mikes, JD, MBA, September 26, 2026
• Florida Statutes as of July 1, 2026
• Applies to: Condominiums · HOAs · Cooperatives

Work backward from the annual meeting date. In a condominium the Legislature has already written your calendar: first notice at least 60 days out, candidate notices of intent at 40 days, candidate information sheets at 35 days, and the second notice with the ballot no less than 14 and no more than 34 days before the election. In an HOA the governing documents set the sequence and the statute supplies only a 14-day floor. Build the calendar first. Order the materials second.

Start with one date and count backward

For a condominium, the regular election must occur on the date of the annual meeting. § 718.112(2)(d)5.a. That single date drives everything else, and it is the only date on the calendar you actually choose. The bylaws usually fix a month rather than a day.

Pick it early. A board that settles on a date 50 days out has already missed the 60-day first notice and cannot hold a valid election that day. Seventy-five days is a workable minimum: 60 days for the first notice plus roughly two weeks to confirm the venue, the eligible-voter list and the mailing vendor.

The same discipline helps an HOA even though Chapter 720 does not impose the condominium sequence. Section 720.306(9)(a) says elections of directors must be conducted in accordance with the procedures in the governing documents, so your bylaws are the calendar. Read them before you set the date.

Write the calendar down as dates, not as day counts. "Second notice, 34 days" invites an argument later. "Second notice mailed February 6" does not. Keep the finished calendar with the official records.

The condominium sequence, day by day

These are the statutory day counts in § 718.112(2)(d)5.a., plus the meeting-notice rule in § 718.112(2)(d)4. and the two post-election deadlines boards routinely forget.

Two of those rows are usually one mailing. A second notice sent at 34 days also satisfies the 14-day annual meeting notice, and the statute contemplates the written notice, the agenda and the ballot traveling together.

One row is not optional even though it feels administrative. An officer, the manager, or whoever gives the notice must sign an affidavit of mailing, or produce a United States Postal Service certificate of mailing, and it goes into the official records. § 718.112(2)(d)4. When an election is challenged, that affidavit is frequently the only proof the association has.

What each condominium date actually requires

• 60 days: the first notice. It announces the date of the election and tells owners how to run. It is not the meeting notice and needs no agenda. It should also state the 40-day and 35-day deadlines as calendar dates.
• 40 days: notices of intent. A person who wants to be a candidate must give the association written notice of intent at least 40 days before the election. There is no floor-nomination safety valve in a condominium: a person who misses this date is not on the ballot.
• 35 days: information sheets. A candidate may furnish a sheet no larger than 8 1/2 by 11 inches, and on request it must be included with the mailing. The association is not liable for its contents, which also means the association does not get to edit it.
• 34 to 14 days: the second notice. Ballot, agenda, candidate information sheets, inner envelope and outer envelope. Mail at the early end of the window; the late end leaves no room to re-mail if a name is misspelled.
• Election day: counting. Ballots are counted at the duly called meeting in the presence of the owners who attend. Verification of outer envelopes against the list of qualified voters may be done in advance by an impartial committee designated by the board. Fla. Admin. Code R. 61B-23.0021.

The HOA sequence is your bylaws plus a statutory floor

Chapter 720 does not build an election machine. It sets outer limits and sends you back to your own documents. That is the largest difference between the two chapters, and it is why a manager who handles both cannot use one calendar for both.

So the HOA calendar is built the other way around. Read the bylaws, extract every deadline they impose, convert each one to a date, and check that the schedule leaves at least 14 days of actual notice before the meeting. If the bylaws are silent on nominations, plan for self-nomination from the floor and bring blank ballots.

Two HOA traps deserve their own line. If your documents allow advance nominations and you intend to close the floor, the notice must say so in advance. And if the association is using online voting under § 720.317, the authorizing board resolution requires its own 14-day noticed board meeting, which has to happen before the election notice goes out.

Cooperatives follow the condominium pattern

Section 719.106(1)(d) mirrors Chapter 718 closely. The board of administration is elected by written ballot or voting machine, the regular election must occur on the date of the annual meeting, proxies may not be used to elect the board, and at least 20 percent of eligible voters must cast a ballot for a valid election. The same 60, 40, 35 and 14-to-34 day sequence applies.

The practical differences are on the eligibility and records side rather than the calendar side. Cooperative candidate eligibility is keyed to delinquency in "any monetary obligation" rather than assessments alone, and the cooperative records statute carries civil penalties where the condominium statute now carries criminal ones. Our guide to cooperative elections sets out the differences in full. If your bylaws describe a different sequence, do not assume they control; ask counsel first.

What to order, and when

Materials are where a correct calendar still produces a late mailing. Order against the 40-day date, not the 34-day date.

1. 90 days out: book the mailing house and get its cutoff in writing. Most vendors need five to seven business days between final artwork and the mail drop.
2. 60 days out: first notice drops. Order outer envelopes with signature, unit identification and printed-name lines, and plain inner envelopes with no markings. Neither carries candidate names, so both can be ordered before the ballot is final.
3. 40 days out, the same afternoon: close the candidate list, run the eligibility screen, and send the ballot to print.
4. 38 to 36 days out: proof the ballot against the notices of intent letter by letter. A misspelled name on a mailed ballot is not curable without re-mailing.
5. 35 days out: collect information sheets. Do not reformat them and do not hold one back because the board dislikes its contents.
6. 34 days out: the second notice mails. Keep a specimen set, one of every document exactly as mailed, in the official records.

Budget for a second mailing you probably will not need. Re-mailing at 30 days costs very little next to an arbitration over a defective ballot.

The dates that cannot be moved

Some deadlines have give in them. These do not.

• The 60-day first notice in a condominium or cooperative. If it goes out late, move the election. There is no waiver and no cure by consent.
• The 40-day candidate deadline. The board cannot extend it for a popular candidate or enforce it only against an unpopular one. Both are worse than the original problem.
• The outer edges of the 14-to-34 day second-notice window. Thirty-five days is too early and thirteen days is too late.
• The 14 continuous days of posting for the condominium annual meeting notice. Thirteen days of posting is a defect even when the mailing was timely.
• The 14 days of actual notice for an HOA membership meeting under § 720.306(5). The governing documents can require more. They cannot require less.

If one of these is missed, reschedule rather than proceed and hope. An election held on a defective notice can be set aside in arbitration before the Division, and the association then runs the whole sequence again at its own expense, with directors whose authority to act in the interim is open to question.

A worked example

Take a condominium whose bylaws call for the annual meeting in March. The board meets in November and sets the meeting for Thursday, March 12. Counting backward:

1. January 11 is 60 days before. The first notice must be mailed on or before that date, so the board targets January 5 for cushion.
2. January 31 is 40 days before. Notices of intent must be received by then, each date-stamped on receipt.
3. February 1, the eligibility screen runs on every candidate and anything doubtful goes to counsel that day.
4. February 5 is 35 days before. Information sheets are due and the ballot goes to print.
5. February 6 is 34 days before. The second notice, ballot, information sheets and envelopes drop, and the affidavit of mailing is signed and filed.
6. February 26 is 14 days before, the date by which posting on the property must have begun.
7. March 12, the meeting. Outer envelopes are verified, ballots are counted in front of the owners present, and the results go into the minutes.
8. March 17 is five days after, the records turnover deadline. The 90-day certification clock for new directors runs to June 10.

That calendar fits on one page. Give a copy to every director in November, and put the reschedule trigger in writing: if any date slips, the meeting moves. For the logistics alongside this schedule see planning the annual meeting, and for the materials see ballots, proxies and voting certificates.

Contact Hamilton Mikes

Hamilton Mikes builds election calendars for condominium, HOA and cooperative boards across Lee, Collier and Charlotte Counties, reviews notices and ballots before they mail, and takes the call when a date slips. Call 239-594-7227 or visit our Corporate Governance page.