Texas Law · Elections & Governance

Texas Candidate Solicitation Requirements Under § 209.00593

A short, prescriptive statute — with sharp procedural consequences. If your association has more than 100 lots, this is the section that decides whether your ballot includes everyone it should.

The Bottom Line

Texas Property Code § 209.00593 imposes a specific candidate-solicitation procedure on property owners’ associations composed of more than 100 lots. At least 10 days before the association disseminates absentee or other ballots for a board-member election, the association must provide a written notice soliciting candidates. The notice must contain instructions for eligible candidates to request placement on the ballot and must state the deadline for those requests — a deadline that cannot be earlier than 10 days after the notice is provided. The notice must be delivered either by mail to each owner or by a combined method of conspicuous posting plus email to each owner who has registered an email address with the association. The ballot must include the name of every eligible candidate who timely requests placement. Procedural defects in § 209.00593 compliance have been used to challenge Texas board elections; the cost of compliance is administrative, and the cost of non-compliance is litigation.

Operational Context: Why This Statute Exists

For decades, Texas HOA elections operated on a thin procedural footing. Some associations posted candidate-solicitation notices; many did not. Slates of candidates were often determined by sitting board members and a small nominating circle, with little structural opportunity for owners outside the inner circle to surface as candidates. The Texas legislature added § 209.00593 in 2011 (with refinements in subsequent sessions) to formalize the candidate-solicitation process for larger associations — those of more than 100 lots, where the opacity problem was most acute and where the procedural cost of compliance was modest relative to the scale of the election.

The statute is procedural, not substantive. It does not tell the association who can run; it tells the association how the opportunity to run must be communicated. Boards that integrate the statute into a standing election calendar comply almost without effort. Boards that approach each election ad hoc routinely miss a deadline, fail to send the right notice, or omit a candidate from the ballot — producing the exact procedural challenge the statute makes available.

Who the Statute Applies To

§ 209.00593 applies to a property owners’ association governed by Chapter 209 that is composed of more than 100 lots. The threshold is lot count, not member count, not unit count, and not assessment-paying-status. Lots subject to the declaration are counted regardless of who owns them.

Associations of 100 or fewer lots are not subject to § 209.00593, although their bylaws may impose comparable procedures voluntarily. Condominium associations governed by Property Code Chapter 82 are not subject to Chapter 209 generally and follow their own election rules under the condominium statute and the bylaws.

The Timing Sequence

The statute creates a layered timeline that anchors against the date the association disseminates ballots. The simplest way to track compliance is to work backward from the ballot dissemination date:

Best practice is to add a safety margin: send the candidate-solicitation notice well in advance of the 10-day minimum, set the candidate-request deadline 14 to 21 days after the notice (rather than the statutory minimum of 10 days), and disseminate ballots a clear week after the candidate-request deadline expires. The added time gives the election committee room to verify eligibility, prepare ballots, and handle late-arriving candidate requests with grace.

What the Notice Must Contain

The statute requires the notice to contain two specific items:

1. Instructions for an eligible candidate to notify the association of the candidate’s request to be placed on the ballot. The instructions should identify where the request is submitted, who receives it (typically the secretary or the manager), what format is required (commonly a written request, sometimes a standardized form), and any information the candidate must include (name, lot identification, ownership status, any attestations).
2. The deadline to submit the candidate’s request. The deadline must not be earlier than the 10th day after the notice is provided.

The statute does not require the notice to include the election date itself, the eligibility criteria, or candidate-questionnaire requirements. Best practice is to include all of these — the eligibility criteria in particular are valuable in reducing post-deadline disputes over candidates who are determined ineligible.

How the Notice Must Be Delivered

The statute provides two acceptable delivery methods:

• Mail to each owner; or
• Conspicuous posting — in a place located on the association’s common property or, with the property owner’s consent, on other conspicuously located privately owned property within the subdivision, or on any internet website maintained by the association or other internet media and sending the notice by e-mail to each owner who has registered an e-mail address with the association.

The second method has two required elements (posting + email) joined by “and.” Posting alone, without email distribution to registered email addresses, does not satisfy the statute. Email distribution alone, without conspicuous posting, does not satisfy the statute. Both must occur for the second method to work.

The Ballot Composition Requirement

The statute requires the association to include on each ballot the name of every eligible candidate who has timely requested placement in accordance with the section. Two practical points:

• Eligibility verification is a board responsibility, not a discretionary one. The board (or election committee) must apply the bylaws’ eligibility criteria consistently to every candidate. Selectively excluding a candidate without a documented eligibility ground is a procedural defect — and a litigation invitation.
• Late requests are statutorily unprotected. A candidate whose request arrives after the published deadline is not entitled to ballot placement under the statute. The board may — and many boards do — accept late requests anyway as a matter of practice, but the statute does not require it.

Why This Matters

The statute is a litigation trigger. Section 209.00593 is one of the cleanest procedural-defect arguments available to a Texas association member challenging an election. The facts are typically undisputed (when did the notice go out? did it satisfy the dual-method requirement? was the candidate’s request timely?). The statute’s precision is a defense for boards that comply and a vulnerability for boards that don’t.

The cost of compliance is essentially zero. A two-paragraph notice template, an email distribution from the management system, a posted notice on the community board, and a 10-day calendar window are not difficult. Boards that fail are not over-resourced — they are typically operating without a written election calendar.

Owner participation depends on it. The reason the statute exists is to ensure that owners outside the existing board orbit can surface as candidates. Boards that comply do so against their own potential reelection interest; the statute’s social purpose is precisely that procedural openness.

Eligibility disputes amplify procedural defects. An association that omitted a candidate from the ballot because of a contested eligibility determination, but that also failed to give the proper candidate-solicitation notice, is defending two procedural problems at once. The combination is harder to settle and more expensive to litigate.

Best-Practice Guidance

1. Build a standing election calendar.

The annual meeting date is typically set by the bylaws. Working backward, the calendar should identify: the date by which the candidate-solicitation notice must be sent (allowing safety margin beyond the 10-day minimum); the candidate-request deadline; the eligibility-verification window; the ballot-preparation deadline; the ballot-dissemination date; and the election date.

2. Template the candidate-solicitation notice.

Use the same template every year. Include the candidacy instructions, the deadline, the eligibility criteria (drawn from the bylaws), the format for requests, and the contact point. Have counsel review the template once; reuse it indefinitely.

3. Send by both methods if there is any doubt.

The statute permits either mail or the dual posting + email method. If the association has limited confidence in its email-registration records, sending by mail is a cleaner posture — it satisfies the statute regardless of email status.

4. Maintain an accurate email-registration list.

If relying on the posting + email method, confirm the registration list is current. Documented registration is the difference between “we emailed everyone” and “we emailed every owner who had registered.”

5. Document the notice distribution.

Take photos of posted notices. Save email delivery confirmations. Retain mailing records. The compliance file should contain enough documentation to prove distribution at the statutory deadline.

6. Provide a candidacy form.

A standardized candidacy form ensures that every candidate’s request includes the same information, that eligibility attestations are captured uniformly, and that the election committee has a consistent record for vetting.

7. Use an election committee separate from the sitting board.

Where bylaws permit, route candidate vetting through an independent election committee. The committee’s independence is itself a defense against perception of incumbent self-protection.

Common Mistakes & Pitfalls

Actionable Takeaways

1. Confirm whether the association is composed of more than 100 lots and therefore within § 209.00593 scope.
2. Build a standing election calendar that backs out from the annual meeting / election date.
3. Template the candidate-solicitation notice and have counsel review it once for ongoing use.
4. Adopt a standardized candidacy form with eligibility attestations.
5. Confirm the email-registration list is current; if doubt exists, default to mail delivery.
6. Document every notice distribution (mail records, email delivery confirmations, photos of posted notices).
7. Set the candidate-request deadline 14–21 days after the notice (well beyond the 10-day minimum).
8. Ensure the ballot includes every eligible candidate who timely requested placement.
9. Run candidate vetting through an independent election committee.
10. Retain the entire election file in the association’s records for the statutory retention period.

Related CIC-SC Resources

• Candidate Eligibility — Who Can Run for the HOA Board?
• Inspector of Elections — Role, Selection, and Responsibilities
• How to Handle a Contested Election
• Electronic Voting in HOA Elections — Rules and Requirements
• Member Petition Rights — What Owners Can Require Boards to Do
• Annual Meeting Script and Run Sheet Template
• Texas Open Meetings Requirements Under § 209.0051
• Texas Business Organizations Code Chapter 22 — What HOA & Condo Boards Must Know

References & Sources

1. Common Interest Community Standards Council, Fundamentals of Association Management — chapter on Elections, Procedure, and Texas-Specific Compliance.
2. Texas Property Code § 209.00593 — Election of Board Members; candidate-solicitation procedure for associations of more than 100 lots.
3. Texas Property Code § 209.00591 — Composition of Board; election framework.
4. Texas Property Code § 209.0051 — Open Board Meetings; companion procedural framework.
5. Texas Property Code § 209.005 — Association Records; election-file retention.
6. Texas Business Organizations Code Chapter 22 — corporate framework governing Texas community associations.
7. Texas State Law Library, Property Owners’ Associations Research Guide — practitioner summary of Chapter 209 election requirements.
8. CIC-SC Editorial Standards — internal practice guidance on election calendars, notice templates, and election-committee charters.

Tags: § 209.00593 · candidate solicitation · Texas HOA election · 100 lots · ballot composition · notice timing · candidacy deadline · election committee · procedural compliance

CICSC publishes this article for educational and informational purposes only. It is not legal, tax, accounting, engineering, insurance, or financial advice and does not establish an attorney-client relationship. Statutory references and operational frameworks are intended to support informed governance, not to substitute for advice from qualified legal counsel and other professional advisors familiar with your jurisdiction and your association's facts. CICSC, its authors, and its members assume no liability for actions taken in reliance on this content.