We mailed out nomination ballots yesterday. Last year I was the victim of the voting process, lol. We had 2 ladies show up at the voting meeting, and each nominated each other. I was going for my 2nd year as secretary, and we had a new gal trying for treasurer. Needless to say, I won 13-8, coincidently the treasurer won by the same votes as well, 13-8. It was obviously a planned thing and many members were very discusted. This year we have scrapped floor nominations.
We make slate every year. That doesn't mean it's always full!
First, we ask if eligible board members would like to continue in their positions (we do abide by term limits for officers). If a board member has to leave a position because of term limits, we offer him or her any of the vacant offices. We then advertise the open positions. We've never been in a situation where more than one person ran for the same office, but we are prepared. If we ever had more than one person running for the same office, we would send a ballot to the PTO general membership.
Let me go back to a board member whose term limits are up in one position. If the board member wanted a vacant position that someone from the "outside" was also interested in, we would include that position on the ballot showing both names.
It's kind of a Catch-22: our term limits for officers is three years. Someone who stayed in a position that long and wants to continue on board in another position is definitely dedicated and you don't want to lose that person. However, if there is a new person who wants to come on board, you don't want to discourage that person by telling him/her the position has been filled. "New Blood" is ALWAYS great to have on board! I guess the best way to handle it is to put the position on the ballot and let the general membership make the decision.
Like I said--this has never happened to our group as long as I've been involved (6 years and counting!) But you never know....
Critter makes a good point about the slate of nominees. This is how our bylaws stated but I (and some others) understood them to be another way. I thought that the committee was supposed to get as many interested people for each position to be put forth before the general members but they chose their own slate and presented it that way before the general members. It was done according to our bylaws and Robert's Rules but I was very confused (it doesn't take much) and I was one of the committee members that revised the bylaws!
Perhaps a copy of the bylaws with the officer positions and the part about the nominating committee highlighted and who is eligible to be an officer would be handy for your committee to have.
Our bylaws stipulate one outgoing officer plus 3 members at large to make up the Nom Comm. We're just now contacting a few people to get those "volunteers" signed on to the committee. We by no means have the Nom Comm process perfected. Some years we never even form a NomComm because the nominees just surface and there's no controversy. Other years we've had multiple nominees for the same spot and have to sort out the positions with a printed ballot vote. This year, term limits force the pres, vp, and recording secy position open, and there's a whisper in the air that we might have a nasty challenge brewing. So..our board is trying to do it per the bylaws this year. Formal Nom Comm with active recruitment of the best people for each job.
Here's something important to consider, especially if you have a strong pool of volunteers: will your NomComm create a slate of nominees, one per position, or do they just accept any nominees who come forward, regardless of whether that means there are two people vying for the same position? What if there's two for secretary and no one for vp? Will your NomComm encourage a shift? And will you allow people to run as a ticket (i.e. pres/vp team)? or is every position treated individually? It's so much easier if good people step up for each job, one per position, but that's not always the case. We're trying to be prepared.
We'll form our nominating committee next board meeting.
By all means, do list the key responsibilities of each open position so the nominee knows right away what he/she is getting into. If you think a person is serious about a particular position, then give him/her the full description, and invite the person to a board meeting so he/she can get an idea of what it's all about. We've had people elected to the board but once they saw the level of involvement and commitment, they backed out, leaving an open position.
I don't know about other groups, but our board members also act as committee chairs, and not by preference either! We've asked general members to step up and chair committees, but the response we get is "no thanks, I'll just come to the event and help." Which we really do appreciate as well!
My experience shows face-to-face recruitment is the most successful. Our PTO secretary recruited "new blood" at the Volunteer Luncheon hosted by our school's principal, teachers & staff. She was successful in getting a couple of new people on board, and a few "bites." Nothing ever came of the "bites," but the ones that did come on board are real assets! Very talented and skilled. We're very fortunate to have them!
