Electronic Voting and Virtual Strata Meetings in BC

What BC stratas can do now

Since November 24, 2022, every BC strata corporation can hold its annual and special general meetings in person, by phone or other electronic means, or as a hybrid of both. No bylaw is required to do this. Owners can also attend and vote electronically, provided a few conditions in the Strata Property Act are met. This has made meetings far more accessible for owners who cannot attend in person.

The rules for electronic attendance

Section 49 of the Act sets three conditions for electronic attendance and voting at a general meeting: the notice must include instructions for joining electronically; the electronic method must let everyone at the meeting communicate with each other; and it must let the chair confirm whether an electronic attendee is an eligible voter. An owner attending this way is treated as present in person.

Secret ballots and electronic attendance

One detail catches people out. An eligible voter attending electronically is not entitled to, and cannot be required to use, a secret ballot. So if a secret ballot is requested at a hybrid meeting, the strata needs a plan for how in-person and electronic voters are handled fairly. Thinking this through before the meeting avoids confusion on the day.

Voting at the meeting vs. online voting windows

It helps to separate two things. The Act clearly allows attending and voting electronically during the meeting itself. What it does not specifically set out is standalone online voting outside a meeting, such as an open ballot window over several days. Some stratas use electronic voting tools, and adopting a bylaw that authorizes electronic voting as a supplementary method gives that a clearer footing. If your strata is considering this, it is a good topic for legal advice.

Making it work in practice

Put clear joining instructions in the notice, and test the platform beforehand.

Have a plan for certifying proxies and identifying eligible voters who join online.

Decide in advance how a secret ballot would work at a hybrid meeting.

Keep complete minutes, including how votes were counted.

For the full meeting process, see our BC strata AGM checklist.

Keeping records of what was decided

However you run the meeting, the decisions and their vote results need to be recorded and kept where owners can find them. Storing minutes, resolutions, and notices in one place means the outcome of a vote is easy to confirm later, rather than reconstructed from memory. That is the kind of record OpenStrata is built to keep.