HOA Meeting and Election Changes: What Five Sessions Did, and What Chapter 720 Still Does Not Say

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: HOAs · Master associations

Current through the 2026 regular session, this page covers HOA meetings and elections. The short version is that almost nothing has happened. Section 720.306, the member meeting and election section, still ends its history line at Ch. 2021-99. What has moved is the board meeting notice and committee rules in section 720.303(2), and the director education requirements in section 720.3033. The risk for a board is not a new rule it has missed. It is a condominium rule it has adopted by mistake.

2026 and 2025: two sessions with nothing in them

No bill amending Chapter 720 meeting or election procedure passed in 2026. CS/SB 1498, which addressed records violations and electronic voting, died in Senate Appropriations on March 13, 2026. HB 657, the community association omnibus, contained electronic ballot provisions among much else, passed the House 108 to 2 on March 5, 2026 and died in Senate Rules on March 13, 2026. SB 1744 and HB 1541, on audioconference meetings and audio recordings as records, died in committee.

2025 was the same for HOAs, for a structural reason rather than an accident. HB 913, Ch. 2025-175, amended Chapters 468, 553, 718, 719 and 721. It did not amend Chapter 720. That is why an HOA did not receive the video conference board meeting rule at section 718.112(2)(b)5., under which a condominium director joining by telephone or real-time video counts toward a quorum and may vote as if physically present, and did not receive the section 718.128 electronic voting package with its e-mail ballot option and its 25 percent petition.

An HOA board can still meet by video conference if its own documents and Chapter 617 support it. What it does not have is a Chapter 720 sentence saying a remote director counts toward quorum and may vote. That is a question for counsel and the bylaws, not a statutory grant.

2024 and 2023: what did move

Ch. 2024-221, CS/CS/HB 1203, effective July 1, 2024, and Ch. 2023-228, CS/CS/HB 919, effective October 1, 2023, both amended section 720.303. Between them they reshaped board meeting and committee practice, director education and the records obligations that sit alongside meetings.

• Director education. Section 720.3033(1) requires a newly elected or appointed director to complete the department approved education for newly elected or appointed directors within 90 days. The certificate is valid up to 4 years. Continuing education runs annually: at least 4 hours for a director of an association with fewer than 2,500 parcels, and at least 8 hours at 2,500 parcels or more. Chapter 720 has no written certification alternative of the kind section 719.106(1)(d)1.b. still allows a cooperative director.
• Agenda posting for associations with 100 or more parcels. Under section 720.303(4)(b), the posting obligation that began January 1, 2025 includes meeting notices and agendas: at least 14 days before a members meeting and at least 7 days before a board meeting.
• Removal and reinstatement of officers and directors. Ch. 2023-228 addressed removing and reinstating certain officers and directors, alongside its records, fines and lien provisions.

Section 720.306 itself was untouched by both acts. That is the fact to hold on to when someone says HOA election law changed in 2024.

Board meeting notice and the 7 day alternative

Section 720.303(2) is the board meeting subsection. A meeting of the board occurs whenever a quorum of the board gathers to conduct association business. Directors may use e-mail to communicate but may not cast a vote on an association matter by e-mail. Meetings must be open to all members, with two exceptions: a meeting between the board and its attorney about proposed or pending litigation where the discussion would be governed by the attorney-client privilege, and a meeting held for the purpose of discussing personnel matters.

On notice, section 720.303(2)(c) is precise and is routinely read loosely. Notices of all board meetings must specifically identify the agenda items and must be posted in a conspicuous place in the community at least 48 hours in advance, except in an emergency. In the alternative, if notice is not posted in a conspicuous place in the community, notice of each board meeting must be mailed or delivered to each member at least 7 days before the meeting, except in an emergency.

Read that as a fork. Posting is the default, and mailing is what you owe if there is nowhere in the community to post. In a community without a conspicuous common location, and there are many in Southwest Florida where the only common property is a lake and a gate, the 7 day mailing is not optional courtesy. It is the compliance path.

For an association with more than 100 members, the bylaws may provide a reasonable alternative to posting or mailing, including a website or a broadcast on closed circuit cable television, with the notice broadcast at least four times every broadcast hour. That authority comes from the bylaws. A board cannot adopt it by resolution alone.

Committee meetings follow the board rules where the committee is one that takes final action on behalf of the board, makes a final decision regarding the expenditure of association funds, or makes recommendations to the board regarding the association budget. Other committees, including many architectural committees, are governed by the documents rather than by section 720.303(2). Our page on committee authority in an HOA works through which committees are which, and meeting notices and agendas covers the drafting.

Member meetings: notice, quorum and adjournment

Section 720.306 handles the members. The default quorum is 30 percent of the total voting interests unless the bylaws provide otherwise, and decisions are made by a majority of the voting interests present in person or by proxy unless a different vote is required. The governing documents may be amended by the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the voting interests unless the documents set another figure.

Notice of a members meeting is governed by section 720.306(5). Where the bylaws do not provide otherwise, the association must give all parcel owners and members actual notice of all membership meetings, mailed, delivered or electronically transmitted not less than 14 days before the meeting. An officer or authorized agent must execute an affidavit of compliance, which is itself an official record. Posting in a conspicuous place and cable broadcast are permitted in addition.

Adjournment is section 720.306(7). Unless the bylaws require otherwise, adjournment of an annual or special meeting to a different date, time or place must be announced at that meeting before the adjournment is taken, or notice must be given of the new date, time or place under section 720.303(2). Any business that might have been transacted on the original date may be transacted at the adjourned meeting. If a new record date is fixed under section 607.0707, notice must go to the people who are members as of the new record date.

That is the whole of the statutory quorum failure procedure. Chapter 720 does not carry the condominium rule that allows an annual meeting to proceed for election purposes in the absence of a quorum, and it does not reduce the quorum on a second call. The adjournment mechanism and the election exception in section 720.306(9)(a) are what a board has to work with.

Elections: the statute hands the job to your documents

Section 720.306(9)(a) opens with the sentence that explains everything else on this page. Elections of directors must be conducted in accordance with the procedures set forth in the governing documents of the association.

There is no statutory HOA ballot machinery. No first notice at 60 days, no candidate deadline at 40 days, no information sheet at 35 days, no second notice with ballot between 14 and 34 days. Those are section 718.112(2)(d)5.a. and they are condominium law. An HOA that runs a condominium election sequence is not complying with a statute. It is departing from its own bylaws, which is what a challenge will be built on.

What the statute does supply is a set of floors and defaults:

• All members are eligible to serve on the board, except as provided in paragraph (b).
• A member may nominate himself or herself as a candidate at the meeting where the election is held. If the election process allows nominations in advance, the association is not required to allow nominations at the meeting.
• An election is not required unless more candidates are nominated than there are vacancies.
• If no election is required because there are an equal number or fewer qualified candidates than vacancies, and floor nominations are not required, write-in nominations are not permitted and the qualified candidates commence service regardless of whether a quorum is attained at the annual meeting.
• Except as otherwise provided in the governing documents, directors must be elected by a plurality of the votes cast by eligible voters.
• Any challenge to the election process must be commenced within 60 days after the election results are announced.

Paragraph (9)(b) handles disqualification. A member delinquent in payment of a fee, fine or other monetary obligation to the association for more than 90 days is not eligible for board membership, and a person convicted of a felony in Florida or of an offense in another jurisdiction that would be a felony here is not eligible unless civil rights have been restored for at least 5 years. Our pages on HOA candidate eligibility and disputed HOA elections go through how these are applied at the table.

Vacancies are filled under paragraph (9)(c) by the affirmative vote of a majority of the remaining directors, even if they are fewer than a quorum, unless the governing documents provide otherwise.

Proxies and the absentee envelope procedure

Section 720.306(8)(a) governs proxies. A proxy must be dated, must state the date, time and place of the meeting, and is valid only for the specific meeting for which it was given and any lawfully adjourned meeting of it. A proxy automatically expires 90 days after the date of the meeting for which it was originally given. The holder may not reassign it unless the proxy so provides.

Section 720.306(8)(b) supplies the one piece of ballot mechanics Chapter 720 does contain, and it applies only if the governing documents permit voting by secret ballot by members not in attendance. Those ballots must be placed in an inner envelope with no identifying markings, and that inner envelope must be placed inside a mailing or outer envelope bearing identifying information reflecting the name of the member, the lot or parcel for which the vote is being cast, and the signature of the member. A ballot is disqualified if more than one ballot is submitted for the same parcel.

Worth noting the direction of travel here. In condominium practice, the inner and outer envelope procedure is not statutory at all. It comes from Fla. Admin. Code R. 61B-23.0021. In an HOA it is in the statute, but only as a condition on a procedure the documents have to authorize first. If your declaration and bylaws are silent on absentee ballots, section 720.306(8)(b) does not create the right to use them. See ballots, proxies and voting certificates for how these interact at a real annual meeting.

Recording, speaking and recall

Section 720.306(10) gives any parcel owner the right to tape record or videotape meetings of the board of directors and meetings of the members. The board may adopt reasonable rules governing the taping, but not a rule that amounts to a prohibition.

Section 720.306(6) gives members and parcel owners the right to attend all membership meetings and to speak at any meeting with reference to all items opened for discussion or included on the agenda, and states that a member and a parcel owner have the right to speak for at least 3 minutes on any item. Three minutes is a floor, not a ration. The association may adopt written reasonable rules governing the frequency, duration and manner of member statements.

Recall is in section 720.303(10). Directors may be recalled by a majority of the total voting interests, with or without cause, by written agreement, by written ballot without a meeting, or at a meeting of the members if the documents provide for one. On receipt of the agreement or ballots, the board must duly notice and hold a board meeting within 5 full business days to certify the recall or to file a petition challenging it. If the board fails to hold that meeting within 5 full business days, the recall is deemed effective. A recalled director must turn over association property within 5 business days.

That 5 business day clock is the single hardest deadline in HOA governance and the one most often blown, usually because the recall documents arrive at a management office during a holiday week. Our guide to Florida association elections covers the surrounding procedure.

What Chapter 720 still lacks

A condominium board joining an HOA board, or a manager running both portfolios, tends to assume these exist. They do not.

Before the next annual meeting, read the bylaws and the declaration on elections first and the statute second. In an HOA that is the correct order, and it is the reverse of the habit a condominium practice builds.

Contact Hamilton Mikes

Hamilton Mikes runs annual meetings, elections and recall responses for homeowners and master association boards in Lee, Collier and Charlotte Counties, and reviews bylaws against the election procedure a board is actually using. Call 239-594-7227 or visit our Corporate Governance page.