Nomination and Election Guidelines
Nomination and Election Guidelines
For Local PTAs
The officers of your PTA have the important responsibility to ensure that those who succeed them are nominated and elected according to PTA nomination and election procedures.
These guidelines are to assist your officers, the members of your Nominating Committee, and all members of your PTA who are interested in making this a successful process.
It would be well to consider PTA nominations and election as ongoing. Members of your PTA are being prepared to participate in your nomination and election process as they work together and learn about individuals’ strengths and leadership skills. “An organization is the lengthened shadow of its leaders,” as Voltaire stated.
PTA uses the method of nomination for office by a Nominating Committee. A Nominating Committee ensures that:
The qualifications of each nominee are considered before a name is presented
The consent of each nominee to serve is obtained
There is at least one qualified nominee for each office
The nominee is favored by more than one person
The choice of who is elected as an officer, however, is not the decision of the committee. Additional nominations may be made from the floor of your general membership meeting for nominations, and your officers are elected by the general membership of your PTA.
As soon as your Nominating Committee is elected, your PTA president shall give the members of your committee a copy of these guidelines in order for them to understand their responsibility and be prepared for their meeting(s).
“Candidate” is used in these guidelines to identify all who are considered as a possible nominee for an office in your PTA.
“Nominee” is used in these guidelines to identify the person elected by your Nominating Committee to stand for election to a specific office. Those members of your PTA whose names are placed in nomination at your nominations meeting are also designated as nominees.
When information quoted from your bylaws is included in these guidelines, its location found in your bylaws follows and is designated by article and section, e.g., (1:1).
Throughout these guidelines “PTA” also implies “PTSA,” if applicable.
The Nominating Committee
Your PTA Nominating Committee is responsible to seek out and nominate the best-qualified eligible person for each office for which elections are to be held. It is one of your most important committees and is your most responsible, sensitive, and deliberative body. Therefore, election to the Nominating Committee is one of the highest honors bestowed by your PTA and should not be a popularity contest.
Because your committee has a tremendous influence in shaping the future of your PTA, the members of your PTA must take the work of the committee as seriously as the committee itself will need to do and must carefully elect those who serve on the committee.
No one automatically serves on your Nominating Committee by virtue of his position in your PTA or the school.
Neither your PTA president nor president-elect shall serve on the committee. The president shall orient the committee to its duties and procedures at its first meeting and then leave the meeting (VI:5e).
One officer other than your president shall be elected to the committee by the officers (VI:5b).
Any member of your PTA considering becoming a nominee shall decline being nominated to serve on your committee.
It is recommended that your principal not serve on your Nominating Committee but act as a consultant to it (VI:5f).
The composition of your committee should reflect the diversity of your PTA community, e.g., PTA experience, geographical areas, feeder schools if a secondary PTA, etc.
Members of your Nominating Committee:
Are current members in good standing of your PTA (VI:5b)
Are elected by your general membership (not your officers or board) prior to December 31st (VI:5a/b/j)
Are elected on their merit, ability, integrity, and discretion
Are viewed as wise, tactful, circumspect, persuasive, and able to keep confidences
Approach the important work of your committee in all seriousness, are free from personal bias, and are willing to attend committee meetings and devote adequate time to this work
Need the following traits and personal and general qualifications:
Knowledge of, interest in, and enthusiasm for the purposes and programs of PTA
Broad acquaintance with your PTA membership and general knowledge of potential nominees’ qualifications and abilities
Understanding of the qualifications and obligations pertaining to all offices to be filled
Ability to give objective consideration to find the best qualified leaders for your PTA
Sound judgment and skill in evaluating possible nominees
Courage to express their ideas and defend their convictions
Each member brings to this committee unique knowledge, insight, skill, and personal experience. By working together, the members form an effective team and blend their collective ideas, qualities, wisdom, and contributions to become a whole greater than its parts that will help ensure continued strong leadership for your PTA.
Electing Your Nominating Committee
Your bylaws designate that a nominating committee is elected prior to December 31 at a general membership meeting. During that meeting, immediately before your Nominating Committee is elected, your PTA president or secretary reads aloud your bylaws section pertaining to the committee (VI:5).
Your bylaws delineate important information about your Nominating Committee (VI:5):
Your general membership elects your Nominating Committee in a general membership meeting prior to December 31. This ensures that the committee has ample time to meet and elect its nominees. In turn, your PTA members will have ample time (at least 14 days before the election) to consider the nominees (VI:5b/j).
The number to be elected to your Nominating Committee is at least three and always uneven. All members of your committee must be members of PTA for at least 7 days prior to election.
Your Executive Committee (officers) elects one member (not your PTA president nor president-elect) of the committee from among its members. The remaining committee members are elected by the general membership of your PTA. Any officer or member desiring to be elected to an office shall decline being nominated to your committee.
The committee elects its own chair.
No meeting of your committee shall be held with fewer than three members present.
The number of alternates (one-five) elected to serve on your committee is designated in your bylaws (VI:5c).
Your alternates are elected by your general membership immediately after the members of your committee are elected.
Immediately after your alternates are elected, your general membership determines the order in which your alternates will replace committee members if necessary. The method of determining the order is voted on by your membership and could be by: the order in which they were nominated, the number of votes received, last name alphabetically, request of the alternates themselves according to personal circumstances, etc.
An alternate attends committee meetings only as the replacement of a committee member.
If a committee member is unable to attend a meeting, the first alternate attends only that meeting as a voting member of the committee.
If a committee member resigns, fails to attend two committee meetings, or is elected to be a nominee for an office, the first alternate permanently replaces that committee member.
Immediately after the committee members (and alternates) are elected and before the meeting is adjourned, they meet briefly to elect the chair and determine the date of their first meeting, which should be soon enough to allow sufficient time to consider nominees. Last-minute meetings make for ill-advised decisions.
Your PTA president then announces the date of the first committee meeting to your general membership and that no one else talks about committee business. Any member of your PTA may submit suggested candidates for any office (in a sealed envelope with "Attention Nominating Committee Chair" written on the envelope front) or via email to your committee chair prior to the first meeting of your committee. Also, prior to the first meeting of your committee, an officer who has served only one term and would like to be renominated should submit a letter of intent to your committee chair. Any such envelopes shall remain unopened until the first committee meeting. After that time no additional recommendations may be made to the committee.
Example of Nominating Committee Election Meeting
The general members of the nominating committee are nominated by PTA members; a person may nominate themselves.
The president may ask, "Are there any nominations for members of the nominating committee?"
Any PTA member may submit a name , the person must consent to serve on the committee, but does not need to be present to be elected.
After all nominations are made, the president closes nominations and calls for a vote.
The same process is used to elect alternates.
If there are more nominees than positions available, a ballot vote should be taken.
Nominating Committee Chair
The Nominating Committee Chair Shall:
Retain all envelopes/emails with suggested candidates or letters of intent unopened until the first committee meeting.
Make every effort to hold meetings when all members can attend. Ask the principal if you could be in contact with them during your consideration of the Teacher Vice President nominee.
Provide copies of your bylaws and your standing rules/job descriptions for each committee member. Also, be sure a membership roster is available to committee members at your meetings.
After the committee has met and voted, contact elected nominees (with the committee members present), inform them of specific responsibilities of the office, and obtain their consent to serve if elected.
Advise nominees to attend the general membership meetings at which their names shall be placed in nomination, elections will be held, and, if elected, they will be installed.
Advise committee members of the results of the contacts if calls have to be made after the meeting.
Assist the committee in compiling its report, which includes the name of the nominee for each office and which is signed by the committee members.
As soon as possible, notify those who submitted letters of intent or were suggested as nominees but did not receive the nomination.
Present the committee report to the Executive Committee as soon as a nominee has accepted for each office and prior to the committee’s report at the general membership meeting held at least 14 days prior to the election meeting (VI:5j).
Assure that the list of nominees is distributed to all members of your PTA after the nominations meeting.
Reconvene the committee in the event a nominee withdraws before the election is held and there is no other nominee for that office.
Before the First Nominating Committee Meeting
The members of the committee shall review the information in these guidelines, the general election information and qualifications for and duties of all offices to be filled as listed in your bylaws (VII:1-5), and the job descriptions in your standing rules.
No discussion about nominees or committee business shall take place between committee members before the first meeting of the committee.
No one else should ever talk with members of the committee or anyone else about committee business.
All suggestions for candidates are given to the committee chair, in writing, in a sealed envelope or via email before the committee’s first meeting.
The members of the committee shall review the following general qualifications needed by candidates to be considered for nomination to any office:
Be a current PTA member in good standing. Nominees must be PTA members for 7 days prior to the announcement of their nomination.
Understand and be enthusiastic about and supportive of PTA and its programs.
Have a knowledge of and abide by the Purposes, bylaws, Mission, policies, and procedures of PTA, and some knowledge of parliamentary procedure.
Have a high sense of justice, courtesy, dependability, open mindedness, moral courage, an ability to get along with people, and a sense of humor.
Be able to be relied upon to give PTA a satisfactory level of priority and commitment.
Be fair, objective, and able to subordinate personal interests to the interests and well-being of PTA.
Have vision and be innovative.
Have carried out all responsibilities well.
Before its first meeting the committee may be made aware of possible candidates to consider as nominees:
The committee may send out an interest survey to your PTA members asking for member interest in serving in an office and should ask current board members to submit written suggestions for candidates.
Recommendations of candidates may be submitted in writing in a sealed envelope or an email to the nominating committee chairman by any member of your PTA prior to the first meeting of the committee. The consent of the person is not necessary to suggest his name to the committee. These are suggestions only—they are not mandatory and are confidential.
If current officers who have served only one term want to be considered for re-election, they must submit a letter of intent stating that interest, in writing in a sealed envelope or an email, to the Nominating Committee chair prior to the first meeting of the committee. The committee is not obligated to nominate an incumbent to serve a second term and shall do so only if it is in the best interest of your PTA.
Committee members should ask themselves these questions as they prepare for their first meeting:
What are the Purposes, Mission, and goals of PTA?
What do we need (people with what expertise or PTA experience, ties to the community, etc.)?
What do we expect (explain in detail—job description, time commitment, meeting attendance, committee work, etc.)?
The Nominating Committee Meeting
Electing the Nominee for Each Office
The well-being of your PTA shall be the top priority of the Nominating Committee. The committee must put the good of your PTA above personal preferences.
The major responsibility of the committee is to nominate the best qualified eligible person for each office to be filled.
Prior to the committee's considering candidates to become nominees, your PTA president shall orient the committee, including the alternates, to its duties and procedures. Your PTA president and alternates then leave the meeting. Then the committee shall review again the election information (VI:1-4) and duties of officers (VII) in your bylaws, job descriptions of officers in your standing rules, and general qualifications for nominees.
The committee opens all recommendations and letters of intent together at their first meeting and makes a list from them for each office to be filled. The committee may add its own suggestions. Regardless of the number of times an individual is suggested for an office, the committee must evaluate each equally and by the same standards as all other candidates.
Consideration of candidates should be an orderly process.
Committee members must talk frankly and openly about possible nominees but only during official meetings.
These discussions must be kept strictly confidential! Committee members shall not discuss the work of the committee outside the committee group ever!
No information, including the reasons for accepting or rejecting a candidate, should ever leave the committee meeting. It is especially unfair to your PTA and to the member who accepts a nomination to discover that others received prior consideration.
If any volunteer involved in a local/council PTA has been included in/or is part of charges of fraud or mishandling of funds, they will not be allowed to serve in any position on your board that deals with handling money.
An incumbent officer (who has served only one term and who submits to the committee a letter of intent of willingness to serve a second term) must be considered by the committee as any other candidate. Only if the committee determines the incumbent is the best nominee for your PTA is the incumbent elected to be a nominee. An incumbent does not automatically serve a second term.
If your PTA has a president-elect, they automatically succeeds to the office of PTA president and your PTA president leaves office at the end of the term (VI:4a).
If your president-elect is unable to succeed to the office of PTA president, the committee shall nominate an eligible person for both PTA president and president-elect.
If both the PTA president and president-elect have served only one term and could serve another term, one option would be that both the PTA president and president-elect could be nominated to serve another term in their same office.
A second option would be that the committee would vote to re-nominate either your PTA president or president-elect and elect a new nominee for the other office.
A third option would be to have a different person nominated to both offices. The decision would be reached by determining what is in the best interest of your PTA.
The number of your vice presidents includes your principal and at least one teacher in your school (VI:4a).
They are both called vice presidents. The number of additional vice presidents is listed in your bylaws.
It is important to consult with the principal after a preliminary discussion about possible teacher candidates and before electing a teacher to be the Teacher Vice President nominee, in order to be certain that there would be no conflicts with other responsibilities. The nominee for Teacher Vice President should in turn be elected as a nominee by the committee.
Both the principal and Teacher Vice President nominees are introduced with the slate of nominees at your general membership meeting for nominations.
Only in rare circumstances should a Nominating Committee member be considered as a nominee for an office and only when it is in the best interest of your PTA.
If a member of the committee is considered as a candidate for election, that member shall be dismissed from the meeting during the discussion and voting concerning that particular nomination. If the member is not elected to be the nominee, they may remain on the committee if they desire. If the member is elected to be a nominee, they shall automatically be dismissed from the committee and shall be replaced by an alternate (VI:5c).
The decisions of the committee are made through the ballot process. A separate vote shall be taken by ballot for each office.
A majority vote of the committee members shall be required to elect a nominee. An alternate nominee may also be elected in case the first nominee declines the nomination.
The committee shall consider separately each office to be filled. All nominees shall be determined with the same care. The committee shall elect separately, by ballot, by majority vote, a nominee for PTA president (only if you have no president-elect), president-elect, vice presidents, secretary, and treasurer in that order, until there is a nominee for each office to be filled.
Once the committee has elected a nominee for each office, the members shall have some time to reflect on the list of nominees before any contacts are made.
If, after a reasonable amount of time, the members of the committee express a change of mind, additional discussion and election of nominees take place.
If, after a reasonable amount of time, the members of the committee continue to express support of the nominees they elected, the nominees are contacted following the guidelines in the next section.
Contacting Nominees
While the Nominating Committee members are still in their meeting, the chair shall personally contact the nominee elected by the committee for the first office to be filled. If possible, the first office considered must be filled before nominees for other offices are contacted. If the person accepts, the chair contacts the nominee elected by the committee for the next office. If the person declines, the elected alternate shall be contacted by the chair. If both the elected nominee and alternate decline, the committee considers and elects a new nominee.
The job description and expectations shall be fully explained to each nominee as contacted and they should be given time to consider. It is helpful if those invited to be nominees discuss their potential responsibilities with family members to determine the family’s willingness to support them if elected.
The chair should also suggest that the nominee consider and be given the opportunity to ask questions, including the following, in making a decision:
What will I be expected to do?
What are the PTA’s Purposes, Mission, and goals? Do I believe in and agree with them?
Is this the opportunity I am looking for?
Do I have the time?
Do I have the expertise?
It is rarely advisable to try to talk a reluctant person into accepting a nomination.
When nominees have accepted for all offices, the committee compiles its report, listing the nominee for each office, and each member of the committee signs it. The chairman presents the report to the Executive Committee at its first meeting after completion of Nominating Committee work, which must be prior to your general membership meeting for nominations.
If the committee is unable to find a nominee for an office, it reports that fact to the Executive Committee and to the members of your PTA in its report at your general membership meeting for nominations.
4-Board Nominees Report.pdf4-Form for Recommending Nominees.pdfGeneral Membership Meeting for Nominations
Your PTA nominations are officially conducted at a general membership meeting of your PTA. This meeting shall be held at least 14 days before your election meeting to give ample time for members to consider the nominees (VI:5j). This meeting can be held in person or virtually.
During your general membership meeting for nominations:
Your PTA president conducts all business of your PTA, including the nominations.
Immediately before the committee chairman reports the nominees, your PTA president or secretary reads aloud the portions of your bylaws pertaining to nominations (VI:5h-k) and to elections (VI:1-4).
Your PTA president then calls on the committee chair to present the committee report.
No action is taken on the report (no vote is taken to accept the slate of nominees).
After the committee’s report, additional nominations may be made from the floor by members of your PTA. Only members of your PTA who have given their consent to serve may be nominated for any office.
Your PTA president, taking each office in turn, says, “X has been nominated for the office of —. Are there further nominations for the office of —?” If the Nominating Committee has brought forward no nominee for an office, your PTA president announces that and asks for nominations from the floor.
If a member wishes to place a name in nomination, he is recognized by your PTA president, stands and says, “Mister/Madame President, I nominate Y for the office of —.” Your PTA president then states, “Y has been nominated. Are there further nominations for the office of —?”
If other persons are nominated from the floor, their names are added to the list of nominees.
When time has been allowed and no one else wishes to place a name in nomination, your PTA president may say, “Hearing no further nominations, the chair declares nominations for the office of — closed.”
When nominations have been offered for all offices, nominations may be closed by a motion and a two-thirds vote, or by your PTA president. It is usually best to allow your PTA president to close nominations when no one wishes to make additional ones. This closes the nominations by unanimous consent instead of by a motion, which requires a majority vote.
If your PTA president closes nominations, they may be reopened by a motion and a majority vote of your PTA members.
Your PTA president then restates the slate of nominees and asks each one to stand.
The list of all nominees is recorded in the minutes of your nominations meeting.
If there is still no nominee for an office by the end of the meeting, the president announces that.
Your PTA president announces the date of the election meeting and that the only nominations allowed from the floor at the election meeting will be those who file a letter of intent to be a nominee with your PTA secretary at least five days before your election meeting (VI:6).
Your PTA president also announces that only the members of your PTA shall be able to vote at the
election meeting.
Note: All nominations of eligible members of your PTA are valid. Nominations from the floor are as valid as those from the Nominating Committee. The report of the committee is only a statement of preference and does not control the election in any way.
After your nominations meeting, your committee chair ensures that all of your PTA members receive notification of the list of nominees and the date of your election meeting. This is done in the manner you normally communicate with your members (ie newsletter, email, webpage, etc.)
The Nominating Committee is automatically discharged when its report is presented to your PTA membership. However, if a nominee withdraws before the election (and there is no other nominee for that office and time permits), the committee reconvenes and elects a new nominee for that office.
As soon as possible after it is known that there are two or more nominees for any office, the officers shall meet to elect an Election Committee (“Tellers” or “election judges”) of three or five members. Please see “Election Committee” section.
If the secretary receives a letter of intent to be a nominee at least five days before the election meeting, he or she immediately notifies the president. The president then notifies your general membership of the additional nominee.
General Membership Meeting for Elections
Electing officers is one of the most important duties of the members of your PTA. Officers should be elected for their abilities and their willingness to serve your PTA. Your bylaws designate that elections are held prior to March 31.
Only those persons who are members in good standing of your PTA and have given their consent to serve if elected shall be nominated or elected to an office.
Only current members of your PTA are allowed to vote (VI:3).
Your secretary and the tellers shall have a current membership roster.
Your bylaws designate the minimum number of your PTA members who must be present to constitute a quorum (IX:8).
Before the election, it must be determined if a quorum is present. If the meeting is held virtually, the minimum number of votes to meet a quorum must be received and noted in the minutes.
If a quorum is not present, the election meeting must be rescheduled. If your election meeting is held in March, you should schedule it during the first two weeks in case a new meeting must be scheduled.
If there is more than one nominee for an office, that election shall be by ballot (VI:4b). The procedure for collecting ballots shall be established by the officers and tellers before the meeting and announced before voting begins. (Ballots may be deposited by voters in a ballot box or in a container.)
During your general membership meeting for elections:
Your PTA president conducts all business of your PTA, including the elections.
Before the election business begins, your PTA president or secretary reads aloud the portion of your bylaws pertaining to elections (VI:1-4).
Your PTA president states again the list of nominees from the nominations meeting and then asks your secretary if any letters of intent to be nominated were received at least five days before your election meeting.
If your secretary received none, your PTA president declares nominations closed. (Proceed to step 6.)
If your secretary received any letter(s) of nomination, the secretary so reports.
This (These) nominee(s) name(s) must then be placed in nomination from the floor.
This (These) nomination(s) does (do) not require a second.
Only the names of the (those) person(s) who filed a letter of intent to be nominated with your PTA secretary at least five days before the meeting may be placed in nomination during your election meeting. Your PTA president does not ask for any additional nominations at the meeting.
When there is only one nominee for an office, the election for that office may be by voice vote if there is a motion adopted to do so (VI:4b).
For election to an office when there is only one nominee, your PTA president says, “Our bylaws state that when there is only one nominee for an office, the ballot may be dispensed with and the election held by voice vote. Is there a motion for a voice vote for the office of —?”
A member of your PTA is then recognized by your PTA president and says, “I move that election for the office of — be held by voice vote.” Your president then asks for a second to the motion. After the second is received, your president says, “All in favor of holding the election for the office of — by voice vote say ‘Aye’. Those opposed say ‘No’.” A majority vote is needed.
If the motion fails to receive a majority vote, the vote must be by ballot.
If the motion passes, your PTA president states, “The motion passes. We will hold the vote for the office of — by voice vote. X is the nominee for the office of______________. All those in favor of electing X to the office of — say, ‘Aye’. Those opposed say, ‘No’.”A majority vote is needed.
If there is a question about the vote results, the vote must be held again with the members standing and holding up their PTA membership card as they say, “Aye” or “No.”
If there is only one nominee for all offices, your PTA president asks for a motion that all officers be elected by voice vote (VI:4b). It is permissible to use both election by voice vote and election by ballot during the same election meeting.
If there are two or more nominees for an office, that election must be by ballot (VI:4b).
Before the election begins:
Each of those nominees is entitled to present a two minute speech.
Your PTA president instructs your members how to mark and fold their ballots and when and how the ballots are to be collected.
Your PTA president announces that the polls are open and for how long.
The Election Committee conducts the election. (Please see “Election Committee” section.)
After the voting appears to be completed, your PTA president inquires, “Have all members voted who wish to?” Hearing no response to the contrary, your PTA president says, “The polls are closed.” This closes the polls by unanimous consent rather than a motion, which requires a majority vote.
The tellers then depart to count the ballots in a separate room or area. (Please see “Election Committee” section for instructions for the tellers.)
When the tellers have completed their work and compiled their report, your PTA president asks for the tellers’ report to be read. The chair of the committee (or another reporting member) reads the report in its entirety and hands it to your PTA president, who reads it again and announces the election and declares the result of the vote for each office. Your PTA president says, after reading the number of votes received by each nominee for an office, “X, having received a majority of the votes cast, is elected to the office of ______________” or “X, having received a plurality (the largest number of votes received by a nominee when there are three or more nominees for an office) of the votes cast, is elected to the office of ______________.”
As soon as a nominee has been elected to each office, the elections are complete.
Virtual Election Meeting
The president conducts the meeting whether meeting online or by sending information out.
The election committee determines the best way to hold the virtual vote and determines the deadline for voting.
Voting by email or other online options must be done in a way that is able to verify the voter is a current PTA member and that each member can cast only one vote.
Quorum minimums must still be met.
The meeting minutes must reflect the method used for voting, the quorum, and the result of the vote.
The Election Committee
“Tellers” or “Election Judges”
As soon as it is known that there are two or more nominees for any office, the officers shall meet to elect an Election Committee (of three or more members and always an uneven number) from among the members of your PTA. No nominees for office, anyone related to a nominee by blood or by marriage, or who reside in the same household as a nominee may be a member of the Election Committee. The officers may elect the committee chairman or allow the committee to elect its own chair from among the committee members.
The Election Committee has the responsibility to conduct the election of your PTA officers. The members of the committee may be called “tellers” or “election judges.” In these guidelines they are referred to as “tellers.”
No more than five days before the election meeting (so all letters of intent to be a nominee will have been received by your PTA secretary), the tellers prepare the ballots for each office with more than one nominee, which should all be the same size and color and have the office(s) and nominees’ names printed on them.
In consultation with your PTA officers prior to the election meeting, the tellers establish the procedure for collecting ballots. They may be deposited by the voters in a ballot box, a covered ballot box, or containers. The safest receptacle would be a covered ballot box. If the votes will be collected virtually, a method to verify membership and a platform for ensuring members have only one vote must be determined.
Only members of your PTA shall vote; therefore, ballots are given only to members of your PTA. Your bylaws prohibit voting by proxy (IV:7). Nominees vote but shall not participate in the election process.
Prior to the election meeting the tellers set up a table with a membership roster, ballots, and pens or pencils available. When your PTA president announces that the polls are open, members move in an orderly manner to the voting table.
One teller verifies that each person is a member of your PTA. If desired, your members could sign a voter listing verifying they are members and have received a ballot. The next teller issues each member a ballot. After each member votes, the next teller collects the ballots.
After the polls are closed, the tellers then depart to a separate room or area to count the ballots.
Each nominee may designate a person as an observer while the ballots are counted.
The tellers begin by counting all the ballots.
If the number of ballots exceeds the number of ballots issued, the tellers return to the assembly for instruction or re-voting.
A number of ballots less than the number of ballots issued is ignored.
In counting the votes cast, one teller reads the ballot while another records the vote next to the name of the nominee.
The other teller(s) carefully observes the reading and recording.
Blank ballots are ignored.
Illegal votes are counted to determine the number of votes cast but are not applied as a vote for or against any nominee. Illegal votes may include:
Two ballots folded together (they are recorded as one illegal vote).
A ballot that is unintelligible.
A vote for an ineligible nominee, who is anyone not on the ballot since all nominees must have already been presented in the nominations meeting or have filed with the secretary at least five days prior to the election meeting.
These are recorded as illegal votes in the final tellers’ report.
The number of votes necessary to elect is determined by the number of votes cast for each office. This includes illegal votes.
A majority or plurality of the votes cast is necessary to elect an officer.
If there is a tie vote, the tellers relate that result to your PTA president. Your PTA president then states, “There is no election due to a tie vote,” and another vote is taken.
The tellers prepare a separate report, which should be accurate and account for every vote cast, for each contested office (an office with more than one nominee).
The tellers’ report should contain:
A heading and date.
The office.
Number of votes cast.
Number of votes necessary to elect.
A list of the nominees in the order of the number of votes received.
The number of votes received after each name.
An accounting of illegal votes.
The signature of the tellers, with the chair of the tellers signing first. All tellers should sign the report.
The report does not include the number of members eligible to vote.
The tellers’ report is entered into the minutes and becomes a part of the official record of your PTA. Under no circumstances should the totals be omitted in an election out of deference to the feelings of unsuccessful nominees.
When the report is finished, the tellers return to the meeting assembly area. Your PTA president asks for the tellers’ report to be read. The chair of the tellers (or another reporting member) reads the report and hands it to your PTA president.
Inasmuch as the Election Committee is created for a specific purpose, it is automatically discharged when its work is completed and its report is received by the general membership of your PTA.
Example of a Tellers’ Report
Heading (For example, Main Street PTA election on March 20, 20XX)
Office of secretary
Number of votes cast 33
“Nominee X” received 19 votes
“Nominee Y” received 10 votes
“Nominee Z” received 1 vote
Illegal votes 3
X is elected to the office of secretary
Signatures of committee members:
Chair: ____________________________________________
After the General Membership Meeting for Elections
The ballots may be destroyed after the election is announced or filed for a designated length of time (such as a month) with your PTA secretary. They are destroyed by the current Executive Committee (officers).
If an office other than president-elect remains unfilled after the election, it shall be considered a vacant office to be filled by a person elected by a majority vote of your incoming officers, all officers having been notified of the election. (VI:7a) A vacancy in the office of president-elect is always filled by the vote of the general membership of your PTA at a special election meeting called by your PTA president, all members of your PTA having been notified.
After the election has taken place and a vacancy occurs in any office other than president-elect, that vacancy is filled by your incoming officers.
As soon as officers are elected, they shall meet for the purpose of formulating tentative plans for their term of office and, if applicable, selecting commissioners and committee chairs. All ongoing and incoming officers and commissioners should plan to attend the annual Utah PTA Leadership Convention in the spring.
Officers begin their terms and assume their official duties on July 1 following their election and remain in office until June 30 of the next election year.