diff --git a/src/controller/ha.c b/src/controller/ha.c
index 12641c03..de99c2c4 100644
--- a/src/controller/ha.c
+++ b/src/controller/ha.c
@@ -1080,9 +1080,15 @@ static void *vote_request_thread(void *arg)
         fcntl(sock, F_SETFL, flags & ~O_NONBLOCK);
     }
 
-    /* ── 2. SSL handshake ────────────────────────────────── */
+    /* ── 2. SSL handshake (client side) ─────────────────── */
     if (ha->ssl_ctx) {
-        ssl = SSL_new((SSL_CTX *)ha->ssl_ctx);
+        /* ha->ssl_ctx was created with TLS_server_method (for incoming connections).
+         * SSL_connect requires a client-method context, so create one on-demand. */
+        SSL_CTX *client_ctx = SSL_CTX_new(TLS_client_method());
+        if (!client_ctx) goto deny;
+        SSL_CTX_set_verify(client_ctx, SSL_VERIFY_NONE, NULL);
+        ssl = SSL_new(client_ctx);
+        SSL_CTX_free(client_ctx); /* ssl holds a reference; safe to free ctx */
         if (!ssl) goto deny;
         SSL_set_fd(ssl, sock);
         int sr;