HOA glossaryMeetings & voting

What is a proxy?

A written authorisation allowing another person to attend and vote on an owner's behalf at a members' meeting.

Proxies are how communities with low turnout reach quorum. The form, the permitted duration, whether a proxy may be directed to a specific outcome or left general, whether it may be revoked, and who may hold one are all governed by the bylaws and the state act.

They are also the mechanism most open to abuse, which is why some states regulate them tightly and a few prohibit them for certain votes in favour of absentee ballots. Collecting proxies in bulk, or holding them without the owner understanding what they authorise, invites challenge.

Keep the executed proxies with the meeting record. If an election is contested, they are the evidence.

Why it matters to a board

Use the form your documents authorise, dated and signed, and retain it. A defective proxy is a vote that disappears on review.

Where the answer lives

Your recorded declaration and bylaws first, then the act that governs associations in your state. Whichever is stricter is the one that binds you.

Related terms

QuorumThe minimum participation required for a meeting to conduct business validly, set by the bylaws and sometimes by statute.Annual meetingThe yearly meeting of the membership, where directors are elected and the association reports to its owners.BylawsThe association's internal operating manual — how directors are elected, how meetings are called and run, and what the officers may do.MinutesThe official record of what a meeting decided — the association's institutional memory and its primary evidence.AmendmentA formal change to a governing document, adopted at the threshold that document requires and, for covenants, recorded to take effect.
General information, not legal advice. This entry explains what the term means, not what your association must do about it. Any notice period, cure window, fine cap, vote threshold or deadline comes from your recorded declaration and your state's act — those differ in all fifty states and are amended every session. Updated August 2026. Confirm the current requirements with an attorney licensed in your state before acting.
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