Hello,
I need help with specifying who can vote in the board elections. We have had two different President and Vice President votes that have been a "popularity" contest. Basically, people asking friends to come in and vote for them. These friends have never attended a meeting or helped at any event and they are choosing who should run our organization based on someone just asking them to vote. I would like to know if there is a way to word our bylaws that specifies that you have to have attended a certain amount of meetings or something along that line before you can vote for an elected position. Any suggestions?

What do you by-laws currently say about how nominations and elections are to be handled?

When are your elections?

Currently it just says any members (which are any parents/guardians/staff) can vote. Voting is in May. I was wondering if we could change the bylaws to say active members can vote (active being described as attending at least one meeting in the current school year).

The board can vote to amend your by-laws regarding the election process in any way desired. For guidance, you may find it helpful to pick up the latest version of Robert's Rules of Order and read the sections on nominations and elections.

Are your members in good standing? Meaning do they pay the yearly dues to be in the PTO? That is usually a stipulation to be a voting member.

Completely depends on your bylaws. Some PTOs consider every parent a member without dues being paid. Somewhere in your bylaws it should state what is considered a quorum for voting (for example: a majority will be consider at any official meeting that has 3 or more registered PTO members present for a vote). Or whatever limit you wish to make. Jewel is the very smart parlimentarian here so of course I defer to her but I know we had to add that to ensure we were able to conduct business when we didn't have 100 percent of our registered membership show up!

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