Electronic Meetings, Notices and Voting: What the Legislature Has Actually Authorized

Jason Hamilton Mikes, JD, MBA
Founder & Managing Shareholder

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

This page is current through the 2026 regular session. The governing changes are HB 1021 and HB 1203 from 2024 and CS/CS/HB 913 from 2025, and they did not reach the three chapters equally. A board running a mixed portfolio, or a manager running one meeting template across condominium, cooperative and HOA clients, will get at least one of them wrong. What follows runs newest first and states where a chapter has nothing.

2026: the audioconference bills died

SB 1744 and its House companion HB 1541 would have authorized condominium, cooperative and homeowners associations to conduct meetings and elections by audioconference, and would have added audio conference recordings to the list of official records. SB 1744 died in Senate Regulated Industries on March 13, 2026. HB 1541 died in the House Civil Justice and Claims Subcommittee the same day.

CS/SB 1498, which addressed records violations and electronic voting, died in Senate Appropriations on March 13, 2026. So did the omnibus, CS/CS/CS/CS/HB 657, in Senate Rules, after passing the House 108 to 2 on March 5, 2026.

The practical result is that a meeting held by telephone only is authorized in the emergency-powers sections and in the board-participation rules described below, and is not otherwise authorized as a general substitute for a noticed meeting at a physical location. A board told by a vendor that audio-only meetings became legal in 2026 was told about a bill, not a law.

Video-conference board meetings: § 718.112(2)(b)5. and the cooperative parallel

The rule for condominiums is in § 718.112(2)(b)5. A board or committee member's participation in a meeting by telephone, real-time videoconferencing, or similar real-time electronic or video communication counts toward a quorum, and that member may vote as if physically present. Section 719.106(1)(b)5. carries the identical rule for cooperatives.

That ended a long-running argument. Under older practice many associations treated a remote director as present for discussion but not for the quorum count, or allowed the vote only where the documents said so. The statute now settles it for both chapters, and a bylaw provision to the contrary is displaced.

The notice obligation is where boards slip. A notice for a meeting at which members may participate by video conference must carry the hyperlink to the video conference, a conference telephone number for members without video access, and the physical location. A notice that gives only a Zoom link is defective, and a defective notice on an assessment or contract item is a defect worth fixing before the vote, not after.

Chapter 720 has nothing comparable. Section 720.303(2) defines a board meeting as occurring whenever a quorum of the board gathers to conduct association business and says nothing about remote participation or remote voting. Outside a declared emergency, an HOA board relying on remote directors for its quorum is relying on its own documents and on Chapter 617, not on Chapter 720. Our guide to meeting notices and agendas covers the notice mechanics for each chapter.

Annual and owner meetings by video conference

The rule for an owner meeting is stricter than the rule for a board meeting, and the two are constantly confused. Section 718.112(2)(d)2. provides that if the annual meeting of the unit owners is conducted by video conference, a quorum of the members of the board must be physically present at the physical location where unit owners can attend. It further provides that if a unit owner meeting is conducted by video conference, the video conference must be recorded and the recording must be maintained as an official record of the association.

Three consequences follow, and all three are practical. There must still be a physical location owners can walk into. Enough directors must be in that room to make a board quorum, even though it is an owner meeting. And the recording is an official record, which means it is subject to inspection and to the retention rules, and in a condominium with 25 or more units it is on the website posting list.

Chapter 719 and Chapter 720 do not carry this provision. An association in either chapter that wants to hold a hybrid annual meeting is designing it from its own documents and should have the format reviewed before the notice goes out, particularly where an election is on the agenda. Our annual meeting planning guide sets out the sequence.

Electronic notice, and the consent that is not the same

Every chapter permits notice by electronic transmission, and each states the consent differently. This is the divergence a manager is most likely to miss when moving a template between clients.

Two operating rules follow. First, keep the consents. In an HOA the written consent is the association's proof that notice was validly given, and the list of consenting members is part of the records that must be maintained. Second, build the revocation step into the process. An HOA that keeps mailing to an address after a member revokes consent is holding data the statute says must be removed, and is also giving notice in a way that member has rejected.

In all three chapters, electronic notice supplements the statutory posting and mailing requirements rather than replacing every one of them. Check the specific notice provision for the specific meeting before deciding that e-mail alone is enough.

Electronic voting: § 718.128 and its 2024 and 2025 amendments

Section 718.128 was created in 2015 and amended twice recently, by HB 1021 in 2024, Chapter 2024-244, and by HB 913 in 2025, Chapter 2025-175. The section now contains four things a board should know.

1. Consent and the board resolution. The association may conduct elections and other owner votes through an internet-based online voting system where the owner consents, electronically or in writing. The board must adopt a resolution authorizing online voting and establishing the procedure for consent and opt-out.
2. The 14-day confirmation. The system must provide a method to confirm, at least 14 days before the voting deadline, that the owner's device can communicate with the voting system.
3. Quorum. An owner voting electronically is counted as being in attendance at the meeting for purposes of determining a quorum.
4. The 25 percent petition. If at least 25 percent of the voting interests petition the board to adopt a resolution for electronic voting for the next scheduled election, the board must hold a meeting within 21 days after receiving the petition.

The 2025 addition is the e-mail ballot, and it is narrow. The association designates an e-mail address. The ballot must include a space for the owner to type the unit number and a space to type the first and last name, which functions as the signature. The ballot carries a capitalized statement that the owner waives the secrecy of the ballot by transmitting it in this way. That waiver is the point: an e-mailed ballot is not secret, and an association that uses the method in a contested election should expect the outcome to be scrutinized. Our guide to ballots, proxies and voting certificates covers how the methods combine.

A petition under the section is not a vote to adopt online voting. It obliges the board to meet and consider a resolution within 21 days. The board may decline. What the board may not do is ignore the petition, because the 21-day meeting is the statutory duty and the minutes of that meeting are the record that it was met.

§ 719.129: what cooperatives did and did not get

Section 719.129 is the cooperative electronic voting statute. HB 1021 in 2024 amended it, and the amendment brought the quorum rule across: a unit owner voting electronically is counted as being in attendance at the meeting for purposes of determining a quorum. The section's history line ends there, with s. 26, ch. 2024-244. HB 913 in 2025 did not amend it.

So cooperatives have online voting with the quorum rule and the consent and resolution structure. They do not have the 25 percent petition, and they do not have the e-mail ballot. A cooperative board that adopts a condominium form resolution referencing an e-mail ballot is adopting a procedure its statute does not authorize.

Cooperatives did get the board-participation rule at § 719.106(1)(b)5. and the emergency powers at § 719.128, which since 2025 permits evacuation on any evacuation order. Our summary of Chapter 719 legislative changes tracks the chapter session by session.

§ 720.317 and what Chapter 720 lacks

Section 720.317 authorizes an HOA to conduct votes through an internet-based online voting system with member consent, subject to the same system requirements, and provides that a member voting electronically counts toward a quorum. HB 1203 in 2024, Chapter 2024-221, amended it. There is no 25 percent petition and no e-mail ballot.

Set against the condominium chapter, the list of what Chapter 720 does not have is the useful part:

• no statutory rule that a director participating by phone or video counts toward the quorum and may vote
• no video-conference annual meeting rule, and no requirement or authorization to record it as an official record
• no 25 percent electronic voting petition and no 21-day board meeting duty
• no e-mail ballot option
• no emergency agenda and ratification mechanism in the chapter

None of that makes the practice unlawful. It means the authority has to come from the declaration, the bylaws, or Chapter 617, and that it should be confirmed rather than assumed. That is a conversation to have with counsel before the notice, not after an owner objects at the meeting. Our summary of HOA meeting and election changes covers the rest of the 2024 package.

What a board should do with this

1. Put the hyperlink, a conference telephone number and the physical location on every notice for a meeting with remote participation.
2. For a condominium annual meeting by video conference, schedule enough directors to be physically present for a board quorum, and confirm who is recording and where the recording will be filed.
3. Pull your electronic notice consents. In an HOA, confirm each one is in writing, and confirm you have a process for removing an address when consent is revoked.
4. Check that the board resolution authorizing online voting matches the chapter you are in, and delete any e-mail ballot language from a cooperative or HOA resolution.
5. If a petition arrives, calendar the 21-day meeting the day it is received.

The common thread is that electronic tools did not replace the formalities. They were added on top of them, unevenly, one chapter at a time. Check the chapter before the format.

Contact Hamilton Mikes

Hamilton Mikes reviews meeting notices, hybrid meeting formats, electronic notice consents and online voting resolutions for condominium, cooperative and HOA boards across Lee, Collier and Charlotte Counties, and advises on contested elections. Call 239-594-7227 or visit our Corporate Governance page.