Electronic Voting vs Proxy Voting: What’s Better for Your Community?
- 11 minutes ago
- 6 min read
It’s 6:55 PM. Your AGM starts in five minutes. You’re still at the front table sorting through a stack of proxy forms — chasing missing signatures, deciphering handwriting, and trying to figure out if you’ve reached quorum yet.
If that scenario sounds familiar, you’re not alone. For property managers across Canada, proxy collection has long been one of the most stressful parts of running a condo meeting. But it doesn’t have to be.
Electronic voting is changing how communities handle owner participation — making it easier to reach quorum, reducing administrative burden, and giving owners a more direct voice.
In this guide, we’ll break down how both methods work, where proxies fall short, and whether electronic voting makes sense for your community.
How Proxy Voting Works
Proxy voting allows an owner who can’t attend a meeting to authorize someone else — typically a board member or another owner — to vote on their behalf. Under most Canadian condominium legislation, including Ontario’s Condominium Act, Alberta’s Condominium Property Act, and BC’s Strata Property Act, proxies are a recognized and accepted method of participation.
In practice, the process typically works like this: the board or property manager sends proxy forms with the meeting notice, owners complete and return them, and the forms are collected, reviewed, and validated before the meeting. Owners who can’t attend can appoint someone to act on their behalf at the meeting. These individuals are called proxies, and their ability to attend or vote depends on the type of authority given to them by the owner.
On paper, proxies solve a real problem: they allow participation when owners can’t be present. In practice, they’ve become a significant source of administrative friction.
The Real Challenges With Proxy Voting
After years of managing condo communities, most property managers can recite the proxy headaches from memory.
1. It Creates Heavy Administrative Work
Collecting proxies isn’t just dropping forms into a pile. Every submission needs to be reviewed for accuracy — correct unit numbers, valid signatures, clear instructions. Incomplete or conflicting forms need follow-up. And all of this typically lands in the lap of the property manager or board in the days leading up to the meeting.
2. Errors Are Common and Costly
Missing signatures, incorrect unit information, and conflicting voting instructions are routine. Each invalid form is a vote that can’t be counted — and in close decisions or tight quorum situations, that matters. Disputed proxies can also open the door to challenges after the fact.
3. Everything Happens at the Last Minute
Most proxies arrive the day of the meeting, sometimes minutes before it starts. That leaves almost no time to verify submissions, sort out problems, or confirm quorum before the room fills up. Delays and adjournments are a predictable result.
4. Owners Aren't Really Participating
Perhaps the biggest issue: when owners delegate their vote to a proxy holder, they're not actually engaging with the decisions their community is making. Transparency suffers, and owners who feel disconnected from the process are less likely to engage in community governance at all.
5. Proxy Fraud
Proxy fraud is a serious and recurring problem in condo communities — forms can be forged, submitted without the owner's knowledge, or manipulated in ways that are hard to detect, especially without a formal verification process.
How Electronic Voting Works
Electronic voting platforms allow owners to cast their votes directly — through a secure, personalized ballot sent to their phone or computer — in advance of the meeting.
There’s no paperwork, no proxy holder, and no need to be present in person.
From a property manager’s perspective, the difference is significant. Instead of chasing forms, you’re watching votes come in automatically, with the system handling tracking, reminders, and tabulation. By the time the meeting starts, quorum may already be confirmed.
The Practical Benefits
Owners vote directly
Each owner receives a personalized, secure ballot they can complete from any device. There’s no form to print, no proxy holder to find, and no meeting to attend. For owners with busy schedules or limited mobility, this removes participation barriers entirely.
Quorum becomes predictable
One of the most stressful parts of running a condo meeting is not knowing whether you’ll reach quorum until the last moment. With electronic voting, votes are collected in advance over days or weeks. Property managers can monitor participation in real time and follow up with non-voters before the meeting — not during it.
Administrative workload drops significantly
No manual collection. No form validation. No last-minute scrambling. The platform handles vote tracking, sends automatic reminders, and generates reports. For property managers already stretched thin, that time savings adds up quickly.
Participation rates tend to improve
When voting is easy and accessible, more owners do it. Electronic voting removes the friction points — printing, attending, delegating — that prevent participation. Higher turnout means decisions are more representative of the community as a whole.
Security and accuracy are built in
Modern platforms include secure owner authentication, anonymous balloting where legislation requires it, and real-time tabulation that eliminates manual counting errors. This also reduces the risk of disputes after the meeting.
Side-by-Side Comparison
Feature | Proxy Voting | Electronic Voting |
How owners vote | Indirectly — through a proxy holder | Directly — each owner votes themselves |
Convenience | Low — requires printing, signing, and submitting a form | High — vote from any device, on their schedule |
Admin effort | High — manual collection, validation, follow-up | Low — automated tracking, reminders, and reporting |
Error risk | High — missing signatures, wrong unit info, conflicting instructions, and risk of proxy fraud | Minimal — built-in validation and secure authentication |
Quorum predictability | Uncertain — often unknown until meeting day | More predictable — advance votes tracked in real time |
Participation rates | Often lower — barriers to submission reduce turnout | Typically higher — easier access drives engagement |
Timing | Last-minute — proxies arrive just before the meeting | Advance — votes collected days or weeks ahead |
Provincial compliance | Supported under most Acts, but requirements vary | Permitted across Canada — check your provincial Act |
A Note on Provincial Legislation
Electronic voting is permitted for condominiums and stratas across Canada:
British Columbia's Strata Property Act permits electronic voting and meeting attendance without a strata bylaw, effective November 24, 2022.
Alberta’s Condominium Property Act allows electronic and telephone voting, unless restricted by bylaws, effective August 15, 2020.
Ontario’s Condominium Act, 1998 permits electronic voting, proxies, and meeting notices without a special by-law, effective in 2022.
Always verify that your chosen platform meets the documentation and security requirements set out in your provincial Act before your first electronic vote.
When Proxies Still Have a Role
Electronic voting isn’t a complete replacement for proxies in every situation. Some provincial Acts still require proxy provisions for certain types of votes. Owners who lack reliable internet access or aren’t comfortable with technology may still need an alternative. And for some communities — particularly smaller ones with high in-person attendance — the administrative case for switching may be less pressing.
The goal isn’t to eliminate proxies entirely. It’s to reduce dependence on them for routine participation, and to give owners a better default option.
Is Electronic Voting Right for Your Community?
For most condo communities, the answer is yes — particularly if you’re regularly dealing with quorum issues, proxy errors, or low owner engagement. Electronic voting doesn’t require owners to change their schedules or learn a complicated new system. It just makes it easier to participate.
The communities that tend to see the biggest benefit are those with a high proportion of investors or absentee owners, buildings where meeting attendance has been declining, and communities where the property manager’s time is a genuine constraint.
Next Steps
If you’re considering making the switch, here’s a practical starting point:
• Review your provincial condominium or strata legislation to confirm the rules around electronic voting in your jurisdiction.
• Check your community’s governing documents — some bylaws may need to be updated to explicitly permit electronic voting.
• Evaluate platforms on security, audit trail capabilities, and ease of use for owners of all technical comfort levels.
• Consider piloting electronic voting for a non-contentious vote before your next AGM, so both you and your owners can get comfortable with the process.
The administrative case for electronic voting is strong. But the real argument is simpler: when it’s easier for owners to participate, more of them will. And communities where owners are genuinely engaged — in decisions, in governance, in the life of the building — are healthier, easier to manage, and better places to live.
