Virtual Elections

Kentucky PTA is allowing local PTA/PTSAs to hold local unit elections at the end of the 2020 school year if the following procedures are followed. Please read and follow along below to hold your elections and let Kentucky PTA know your plans for elections for 2020.
Kentucky PTA will allow local units to hold elections online using a virtual meeting. This will allow units to vote in new officers for the 2020-2021 school year who can then attend our virtual convention.

Steps to Follow

Step 1:

Meet as an executive board (EB) and determine if your unit has open officer positions based on your bylaws and current officer terms. If your bylaws say you serve 2 (two) years and you are currently ending your first year, you do not need to hold elections. Furthermore:
*If you do not have any open positions for election in 2020 please go to Step 3.
*If you have open positions for election in 2020 please go to Step 2.

Step 2:

If you have any open officer positions your executive board should meet and VOTE. Bylaws allow you to have a virtual (or conference call) meeting as long as all members can on the meeting can be heard. Hold a vote to determine if you plan to have an online election or if ALL current officers are willing to stay in their positions until school resumes in late fall 2020.
Your executive board was voted in to be the decision makers between general meetings. Please make sure you vote as an Executive board in the best interest of your membership and your PTA. As always, the President of the unit is only allowed to vote in the event of a tie and therefore does not vote in this decision as it must be unanimous.
*If you vote to STAY in your positions until school resumes you must submit your meeting minutes to Kentucky PTA by emailing them to kentuckypta@bellsouth.net indicating that all officers understand and commit to staying until an in-person vote can happen. Per bylaws procedure all officers stay in their positions until a successor is elected. You must inform your General Membership (general membership means all paid members) that you plan to hold elections when school returns for the 2020-2021 school year. Elections cannot be held any later than 9/30/2020.
*If you vote to HOLD elections please go to Step 3.

Please fill out this form to let Kentucky PTA know of your decision. This MUST be completed by every unit!

Step 3:

Once your executive board has voted whether or not to hold an election or if you have no open positions, Please fill out this form to let Kentucky PTA know of your decision. Kentucky PTA MUST be made aware of your board's decision.
After submitting the above form:
*If you voted to hold an election please go to Step 4.
*If you voted NOT to hold an election you have completed the process and you need to inform your members of your decision. You should do this by more than one means. Do not just post it on social media, also email your members as well. If your members need guidance on this decision or if you would like Kentucky PTA present to help explain this to your members, please contact Kentucky PTA directly.
Keep in mind you MUST hold elections within ONE MONTH of the start of the 2020-2021 school year and the decision not to hold elections must be unanimous within your executive board.
We strongly suggest that if you are not going to be holding elections at this time that you set the date for the future election ASAP and notify your members as back to school season is busy for all. This will allow you to solicit nominations at your open house/welcome back events and move forward with the election as scheduled.

Step 4:

Now that you have decided to have elections you should solicit nominations for your open positions. The President should have selected a nominating committee, if you haven’t done so, please do so now. *Reminder- your bylaws do not allow the President to serve on the nominating committee* Set a date for your Virtual Election Meeting.
Nominating Committee:
The nominating committee will reach out to the parents of the school and feeder school(s) to help solicit nominations. Talk with your school Principal and/or secretary to see if they can help you send an email out to all parents. Place it on your social media sites, and feel free to contact members and your frequent volunteers to see if they would be interested in a position on the Executive board for the 2020-2021 term. Nomination Committee should post the slate on social media sites and email it out to members at least 5 days prior to your Election Meeting date. At this time, you can take nominations from the floor.
Running from the floor:
Anyone who wishes to run from the floor for a position that is already slated must reach out to the Nomination Chair and Secretary (or Treasurer if Secretary is the Nominating Chair) by 5 PM the day prior to the meeting. No Nominations will be accepted from the floor during the meeting for slated positions.
Nominations for unfilled positions can be accepted from the floor during the meeting. You must make Members aware of this policy on how to run from the floor, when posting the slate of nominees.

Running your Virtual Meeting:
As an executive board decide on what platform you are going to use. Please refer to the FAQs if you need help deciding. Once you have decided on the platform, sign up for it, and play around prior to the meeting to ensure that you feel comfortable using it. While this meeting is only an Election only meeting, you still must follow procedures the following procedures:

1. Your bylaws must be current. – Please reach out to Kentucky PTA if they are not.
2. The PTA Community must be notified a minimum of 10 days prior to the meeting.
3. Attendees must register to attend in order to allow for membership verification. While typically PTA/PTSA meetings are open to everyone, in this situation to comply with laws and procedures- only PTA/PTSA members can join.
4. If someone who is not a member intends to run from the floor, they must purchase a membership before the meeting. They can join by using MemberHub Store to join.
5. Password protect your meeting if you are using Zoom or other means that can be hacked by non-members.
6. Everyone on the meeting should be able to hear each other and talk. Please ensure before starting the election that can be done.
7. You must have quorum present. Refer to your bylaws to see that exact amount, typically it is 10 (ten) members.
8. You must have minutes taken as you normally would. If your secretary will not be on the meeting, please be prepared to appoint a pro-temp secretary for the meeting.
9. You must provide a ballot vote for any elections where more than 1 person is running. (Please see sample ballot here)
10. A voice vote can be taken if only one person is running for the position.
11. Please use the provided script to ensure transparency, consistency, and help you run your elections. This script can also be used to help with minute taking.
12. Presidents: please take time to read over the script prior to your meeting.

This virtual PTA meeting is to vote on election of officers only, due to the current COVID-19 pandemic. All other business should be held until the next in person general membership meeting as per bylaws.
We realize this is a lengthy process, but we've tried to make it as user friendly as possible while still staying within Kentucky laws and parliamentary procedure.