It's sometimes too easy to get mired down in Robert's Rules, official parliamentary standards, etc. While those entities serve a valuable purpose, they aren't always practical for a very small group. Especially one still in the process of establishing bylaws. For your group's immediate needs, I would recommend that your current officers establish and agree on an election process for this one year, publicize it and then stick to it. Please note that the entire election process can take 60+ days so it's important to get started on it soon.

My last team followed a schedule similar to the one dlf mentions. Here's what our bylaws had to say about it.

Section 6 - Candidate Slate

Prior to the April meeting, the President shall appoint a Nominations Committee of three to five non-officer members whose duty shall be to present a slate of candidates for the succeeding year. The goal of the Nominations Committee should be to actively seek a diverse representation of the membership to the organization.

Section 7 - Candidate Consent

The Nominations Committee must obtain the consent of each proposed candidate.

Section 8 - Slate Presentation

The slate of candidates shall be published in the school newsletter no less than 14 days but preferably 30 days prior to election.

Section 9 – Election

Membership shall vote on the slate of candidates at a meeting held during the calendar school year and prior to June 1st. The election meeting will be published at the same time as the slate of candidates. Written ballot voting is required. A majority vote of those members present determines those elected. No vote may be cast by proxy. A tie shall be broken by the drawing of lots.

We used ballot voting. If there were two or more candidates for a position, the names were listed. If there was an unopposed candidate, it stated their name with check boxes for Yes or No.

The new board term starts July 1. The outgoing and incoming officers meet within a few days before or after July 1 to transfer information.

We start with a committee for working the nomination process. Names are submitted for the positions to the front office and validated by the Principal. That way no one can say that they were "taken off the ballot" because someone didn't like them.

The committee ids a cut off date for the nomination process.

Next the names are placed on a ballot and published for folks to see. The date for the elections if published a month out and the elections take place at the meeting identified.

We do a write in ballot or a voice ballot depending on any suspected "issues" and the number of folks running (i.e. more than one person I'd go to a ballot vote). It is not necessary to vote in a person even if they are the only one running. If folks don't like the person voting for them and vote "nay" and the "nays" outweight the "Yeahs" then the person does not take office.

Next we publish the results. There are smarter folks than me on this but this seems to work for us.
d

THis is what Our PTO does. We hold election in April Or May right before school gets out. THat way there is new officers ready to go when the new year starts.
We hold nominations. Someone nominates someone else for the office that is open. So if you know of someone that wants to run then they can ask someone else to nomitate them. We can't nomiate ourselves. If no one else is running for the same office the we do it by I's or Nay's. If someone is running for the same office then we do it by secret ballet. All member of the PTo are able to vote. Hpoe this helps Melissa

Okay, our PTO has no bi-laws (I know, I know, our Treasurer is supposed to working on them) but this year we want to implement elections for the officers on the board. I will be announcing on Thursday at the next PTO meeting for the whole school that I will be stepping down as President in the Spring and that all of the positions are going to be up for election. There are currently 5 officers and all of us want to step down and let others take the reigns. I think there are people out there that truly want to help and that will be more motivated. I have already said I am not leaving the PTO board, I just don't want to be President and I don't want to hold an office. I am however, more than willing to work just as hard as I do now for the PTO. I just want to do it on the back end instead of the front end.

So anyway, we have no idea how to hold elections. Here are the main questions we have:

When do we hold them?

How do interested parties sign up to be on the ballot?

Who votes?

How do they vote?

If anyone has a play by play that could provide on how they hold elections, that would be fantastic. I really need a timeline to determine how things should go.

I'll take any help I can get really.