Setting Up Board Elections

Why Elections Matter

Board elections are the foundation of democratic governance in your HOA. They give homeowners a voice in who leads the community and ensure accountability. Running elections through Nestingbird creates a transparent, auditable process that builds community trust.

Creating an Election

Navigate to Governance in the sidebar, then select the Elections tab and click New Election to get started. Nestingbird allows one election per year. When creating an election, you'll configure:

• Description — describe the election, positions available, and any requirements members should know.
• Nomination period — set how long members have to nominate themselves. Once the election is created, Nestingbird will prompt owners in the association to nominate themselves if interested.
• Voting period — set how long voting stays open after nominations close. Nestingbird tracks who has voted (without revealing individual votes) to ensure one vote per unit.
• Number of votes — how many candidates each member can vote for (e.g., "Pick 3" for 3 open seats).

If your nominees are already known, you can check Skip nomination period and add nominees directly to bypass nominations and go straight to voting.

Once voting closes, results are calculated and displayed automatically.

Best Practices

• Give owners at least two weeks' notice before an election.
• Allow enough time for nominations — a week is typical.
• Keep the voting period open for at least 5–7 days so all owners have a chance to participate.
• Announce results at the next board meeting and through a community post.

Plan Requirement

Board elections require the Insights plan or above.