Voting in Booster Club Meetings: Majority, Proxy, and Email Votes

Who Votes

At a board meeting, the board members vote. At a general membership meeting, the voting members vote, as defined in the bylaws. Guests, coaches, and school staff do not vote unless the bylaws make them voting members. A club that ties voting rights to paying dues should read Membership Rules in Booster Club Bylaws, because pay-to-vote rules create problems for a 501(c)(3) club.

Vote Thresholds

RONRRobert’s Rules of OrderRobert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised (RONR), the rulebook most booster club bylaws adopt for running meetings. It governs a club only if the bylaws adopt it, and state law and the bylaws come first.All terms defines a majority as “more than half,” measured against the votes actually cast. Blank ballots and abstentions are not votes and do not count. The club should not use “50 percent plus one,” which gives the wrong answer when an odd number of votes is cast.

Votes are never rounded. Two-thirds of 14 votes cast is 9⅓, so 10 yes votes are needed.

RONR requires a two-thirds vote for actions that cut off members’ rights, such as closing debate, limiting debate, suspending the rules, and rescinding a past decision without notice. The bylaws usually require two-thirds for amending the bylaws and sometimes for removing an officer. Everything else is a majority vote unless the bylaws say otherwise.

Abstentions

An abstention is a refusal to vote, so it has no effect on a vote that requires a majority or two-thirds of the votes cast. It has the same effect as a no vote when the rule requires a majority of the members present or of the entire membership. A member who abstains still counts toward the quorum.

A member with a direct personal or financial interest in a question should not vote on it. Under RONRRobert’s Rules of OrderRobert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised (RONR), the rulebook most booster club bylaws adopt for running meetings. It governs a club only if the bylaws adopt it, and state law and the bylaws come first.All terms, the board cannot force that member to abstain, but the club’s conflict of interest policy can require disclosure and recusal.

Ties

A tie vote means the motion fails, because a tie is not a majority. On a small board, the president votes along with everyone else and does not get a second vote to break a tie. In a larger meeting where the chair has not voted, the chair may vote when it changes the result, either to break a tie or to create one, or to reach or block a two-thirds vote. A chair who votes to create a tie defeats the motionMotionA formal proposal that the club take an action or a position. Under Robert’s Rules of Order, a motion is the only way a board or membership meeting makes a decision.All terms.

Voting Methods

A member may change a vote until the result is announced, except on a ballot or other secret vote. After the announcement, a change requires unanimous consent. A single member can demand that a voice vote be retaken as a rising vote (a “division”), but a counted vote requires a motionMotionA formal proposal that the club take an action or a position. Under Robert’s Rules of Order, a motion is the only way a board or membership meeting makes a decision.All terms and a majority.

Absentee, Mail, and Proxy Voting

RONRRobert’s Rules of OrderRobert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised (RONR), the rulebook most booster club bylaws adopt for running meetings. It governs a club only if the bylaws adopt it, and state law and the bylaws come first.All terms’s starting point is that only members present at a properly called meeting may vote. Absentee voting of any kind (mail ballots, online ballots, or proxies) is allowed only if the bylaws provide for it.

Proxy voting means a member authorizes someone else to cast that member’s vote. RONR does not permit proxy voting unless the bylaws authorize it or federal, state, or other applicable law requires it, because a proxy vote is cast without hearing the debate. State law can reverse this default. In California, for example, members of a nonprofit public benefit corporation may vote by proxy unless the articles or bylaws limit or withdraw that right. A California club that does not want proxies must say so in its bylaws. Rules vary by state; check the club’s state page.

Mail and online ballots work for elections and bylaws votes when the bylaws authorize them and set the procedure: who gets a ballot, the deadline, how ballots are verified, how they are counted, and what happens in a tie. Secure online balloting services can provide integrity similar to mail ballots. Members without internet access should have a paper option.

Email Votes

Under RONR, an email exchange is not a meeting. A board can meet electronically only if the bylaws authorize it, and only in a format where all members can hear each other at the same time, such as a phone or video call. A string of “reply all” votes does not meet that test, so a decision made that way is not an act of the board. Under the 12th edition, an action taken by individual officers on approval collected separately from board members is subject to ratification. The next properly held meeting can ratify the decision by majority vote, and the secretary records the ratification in the minutesMinutesThe official record of what a meeting decided, not a transcript of what people said. The secretary takes them, the next meeting approves them, and the club keeps them permanently.All terms. Until then, the officers who acted carry the risk.

State law adds a separate path for incorporated clubs. Many state nonprofit corporation laws allow a board to act without a meeting by written consent, and in most states the consent must be unanimous. California, for example, allows a board to act without a meeting only if all directors consent in writing, and email can satisfy the writing requirement. A few states allow less than unanimous written consent if the governing documents permit it. Check the club’s state page and the bylaws.

A board using unanimous written consent by email should follow a careful procedure:

1. The secretary sends the exact text of the proposed action to every board member, not only those likely to agree.
2. The message states that the action takes effect only if every director consents in writing.
3. Each director replies with a clear statement such as “I consent to the action described above.”
4. A single “no,” or a single director who does not reply, means the action fails and waits for a meeting.
5. The secretary prints or saves every reply and files them with the minutes.
6. The president reports the action at the next meeting, and the minutes note it.

Email should not be used for anything contested, anything large, or anything the board has not already discussed. Its role is routine business between meetings.

Membership votes by email are valid only if the bylaws set up an electronic balloting procedure. Email is a weak ballot, because it is hard to confirm who sent each vote and it is not secret.

Recording the Vote

The minutesMinutesThe official record of what a meeting decided, not a transcript of what people said. The secretary takes them, the next meeting approves them, and the club keeps them permanently.All terms record the result of every vote. When a vote is counted, the minutes record the numbers on each side. When the vote is by ballot, the minutes include the full tellers’ report. Individual members’ names are recorded only on a roll call vote. The format is on How to Take Booster Club Meeting Minutes.