We just had our elections for a 2-year term for all 5 Exec Bd positions.
Our Nominating Committee is chaired by the Principal and has 2-4 parents involved. No one on the current board is allowed to be on the NC and no one on the NC is eligible to be put up for election. Anyone who is interested in serving on the board needs to let the NC know. Their official job is to review eligibility but their un-official job is to recruit candidates. The full slate of eligible candidates and there positions are presented by the NC at the next-to-last regular meeting of the year (early May). Additional nominations are taken from the floor if anyone else wants to run at the last minute. If there is no contest for a seat, the election is held by voice vote, otherwise the NC oversees a secret ballot.
The new board is sworn in to office in front of the entire school at a special PTO meeting a few weeks later. The new board then runs the last regular meeting of the year (in June) and (hopefully) starts with a full head of steam in September.
Our Charter allows a parent to serve in a board position for no more than 2 consecutive terms (4 years). Once that time is up, they are not eligible to serve in the same position for at least 1 year, but can serve on the board in another office.
We also require PTO members to be in attendence to vote (and accept a nomination if they did not notify the NC earlier).
There is a lot of behind-the-scenes work done by the NC up front - it is all kept confidential and they try to find/present a slate of officers that will work well together. The actual election doesn't take much time at all - less than 5 minutes this time around (beat you mykidsmom!
Hope that answered all your questions.