Davis-Stirling Election Rules: What a California HOA's Election Operating Rules Must Contain

What "Davis-Stirling election rules" actually means

When board members search for Davis-Stirling election rules, they usually mean one specific document: the written election operating rules that California requires an association to adopt before it runs a director election. This is separate from the secret-ballot mechanics on election day. The election rules are the standing rulebook — who can run, each membership's voting power, how candidates are nominated, how ballots are handled, and how the inspector of elections is selected — and getting this document right is what keeps an election from being voided a year later.

This guide covers the election-rules document itself: what California requires it to contain, the deadlines that make or break it, and the traps that catch self-managed boards. For the step-by-step voting mechanics on election day, see the HOA secret-ballot procedure walkthrough and the broader how to run an HOA election in California guide. Confirm every section number and deadline below against the current statute or with counsel — California rewrites this corner of the law often.

The 90-day rule that voids more elections than anything else

Start with the single most important deadline. An association generally cannot amend its election operating rules less than 90 days before an election (Civ. Code §5105(h)). The point is to stop a sitting board from changing the rules to favor incumbents once an election is in motion.

For a self-managed board the consequence is brutal in its simplicity: if you realize two weeks before ballots go out that your election rules are missing something, you generally cannot fix it for this election. You run under the flawed rules or you don't run on schedule. The fix is calendar discipline — review and adopt election rules well outside the 90-day window, ideally the same time every year. Confirm the exact window with counsel before relying on it.

What the election rules must address

Davis-Stirling requires the election operating rules to cover specific ground. Generally, the rules must (Civ. Code §5105):

• Ensure access to association media — if any candidate or member advocating a point of view is allowed to use association resources (newsletter, website) for an election or recall, the rules must give all candidates and members equal access.
• Ensure access to common-area meeting space at no cost for candidates and members during a campaign.
• Specify the qualifications for candidates and for nominees, and the process for nominating candidates, in a manner consistent with the governing documents. The rules may not bar any member from nominating themself, and the statute limits the grounds on which a member can be disqualified from running.
• Specify the voting power of each membership, the authenticity, validity, and effect of proxies, and the voting period, including when polls open and close. The rules must also prohibit denying a ballot to anyone who is a member when ballots are distributed (Civ. Code §5105(h)).
• Require retention of a candidate registration list and a voter list, and let members verify their own information on both lists at least 30 days before ballots are distributed.
• Specify a method of selecting one or three independent inspectors of elections.

Confirm the complete, current list of mandatory contents against §5105 — the Legislature has both added and tightened these requirements in recent sessions.

Candidate and voter qualifications: tread carefully

This is where self-managed boards get themselves in trouble. The instinct is to bar "problem" owners — someone behind on dues, someone in a dispute with the board — from running. California law sharply limits that instinct.

An association generally may disqualify a person from running only on grounds the statute permits (Civ. Code §5105(c)) — for example assessment delinquency, not having been a member for at least one year, or a past criminal conviction that would prevent the association from obtaining or keeping its required insurance coverage — and the statute requires the association to let a would-be candidate cure an assessment-delinquency disqualification by paying under protest or by entering into and complying with a payment plan (Civ. Code §5105(d)). Disqualifying a candidate for an impermissible reason — or without giving the required cure opportunity — is a classic way to lose an election challenge. Before you reject any nominee, confirm the permissible disqualification grounds and the cure procedure against the current statute and with your association attorney. Do not rely on what the rules said three years ago.

The inspector of elections and ballot handling

The election rules must provide for an independent inspector (or three inspectors) of elections who is not a director, a candidate, or related to either, and is not employed or under contract to the association for other paid services (Civ. Code §5110). The inspector — not the board — controls the ballots from receipt through tabulation, verifies the voter list, judges ballot validity, and certifies the result. Many small self-managed associations hire a third-party inspector service precisely because finding a truly disinterested volunteer is hard. The detailed double-envelope, mail-out, and open-tabulation mechanics live in the HOA secret-ballot procedure guide.

Electronic voting changes the procedure — but not the rules requirement

California now permits HOAs to conduct elections by electronic secret ballot for any member election except one on regular or special assessments, if the association adopts an election operating rule authorizing it (Civ. Code §5105(i)), which can spare a self-managed board the cost and friction of mailing paper. Even with electronic voting, the association still needs compliant election operating rules and an independent inspector; e-voting changes the delivery of the ballot, not the requirement to have the rules. See AB 2159 and electronic voting implementation for California HOAs, and confirm the current e-voting prerequisites with counsel before switching methods.

A self-managed board's election-rules playbook

1. Calendar a yearly election-rules review well outside any 90-day pre-election window. (§5105(h).)
2. Confirm the rules contain every mandatory element — media/meeting-space access, candidate qualifications and nominations, voting power, proxies and the voting period, candidate and voter lists, inspector selection. (§5105.)
3. Re-check candidate disqualification grounds and the cure procedure every cycle — this area changes often. Confirm with counsel.
4. Appoint a truly independent inspector and let them, not the board, hold the ballots. (§5110.)
5. Decide paper vs. electronic and confirm the prerequisites for your chosen method.

This playbook is a starting point, not legal advice. Verify each requirement and deadline against the current statute or with your association attorney before relying on it.

Frequently asked questions

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Run a defensible HOA election

The election rules are the part of an HOA election a court actually scrutinizes — a non-independent inspector, a late rule amendment inside the 90-day window, or an improper candidate disqualification can void the whole thing. Propty's California HOA platform keeps your election operating rules, candidate qualifications, inspector appointment, and ballot trail in one place, with deadline reminders that keep a self-managed board outside the 90-day no-amendment window — so the election holds up if anyone challenges it.

Related reading

• The HOA Secret-Ballot Procedure in California
• How to Run an HOA Election in California
• AB 2159 Electronic Voting for California HOAs
• HOA Quorum Requirements in California
• Davis-Stirling Compliance Checklist
• How to Run a Self-Managed HOA in California

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