Bylaws
Bylaws are the association's operating manual. Where the CC&Rs govern the property and what owners may do with it, the bylaws govern the corporation: how many directors sit on the board and for how long, how they are elected and removed, which officers exist and what each one does, how meetings are noticed, what makes a quorum, and how votes are counted.
Bylaws rank below the CC&Rs and state law — if they conflict, the higher document wins — but above board resolutions and community rules. Owners can usually amend them by a vote set out in the bylaws themselves, often a lower threshold than a CC&R amendment needs.
Most procedural disputes, such as whether an election was valid or a meeting properly called, are settled by reading the bylaws closely.