Since you do not offer an idividual membership then I would say one vote per membership (regardless of their board position).
The reason behind this is there are single parent families that would only cast one vote and yet they have paid the same membership dues. It would unfairly tip the scales unless you gave single members two votes.
I would not do absentee ballots. Your members need to be part of the process and an absentee may not have the knowledge to know who would be the better candidate.
(example, Jane has a lot of friends at the school but in PTA/PTO she has never followed up with an assignment and is unreliable, Joe has been an active volunteer, who has accomplished all that was assigned and even helped when no one was available but outside of the PTA, he doesn't really know anyone- who do you think would get elected?)
There should be a roster of members at the meeting and only current members should vote.
My 2 cents....
mykidsmom, if you refere to having spouses on the Executive Board, the clause is now inserted in our bylaws as the result of a bitter (and expensive) lesson learned.
It's not that we won't allow it; we just won't ever go into a situation like that again without proper awareness and safeguards.
Purely my opinion, but I view a Board vote differently than a general meeting vote. Individuals are members of the BOARD; families are members of the PTO (in our group).
With spouses who both serve on the board, we allow each one a vote at Board Meetings for business items. But at a general meeting, it's one vote per family.
And by the way, our bylaws prevent 2 members of the same household from serving on the board unless approaved by 2/3 majority vote of the board.
We are also in the process of election in our school.
If indeed there is only one person for each Executive Board position, I think it really would not matter who is voting as long as you had a majority or 2/3 rds rule.
I would check your bylaws and also set up a committee to have these reviewed.
Our bylaws state a full review every two years but can be amended at any time. Our bylaws also state anything not covered in the bylaws is subject to Roberts Rules.
If you would like to see a copy of our bylaws for reference, please contact me and I will get that to you.
