Each year, the members of a 4-H club are tasked with electing a new set of officers. It is best if your club has adopted bylaws which specifically state how and when club officers should be elected, but oftentimes, this may not be the case. If not, you can utilize these steps as a guide when working to elect club officers:
-Review club officer duties with the entire club. If your club has an age or years in 4-H requirement for any officer position, make sure that it is reviewed as well.
-Open the floor for nominations (self or others). If a nomination is made for someone other than themselves, the nominee must accept the nomination. Once all nominations are made, the President should close the nominations.
-Allow youth the opportunity to “campaign” for their position. This may include making signs, handing out campaign materials, speaking to the group to introduce themselves and tell about why they would make a GREAT club officer, etc.
-Create a ballot for the election beginning with the President position. If you do not want to create a printed ballot, you could write the names of those running on a white board or PowerPoint slide.
– Use a “secret ballot” to determine the winner of the election. This can be done by using small pieces of paper and having youth fold them and turn them in. After collecting the ballots, two members who are not running for the position and who are not related to anyone running should then count the ballots and report the winner to the president, who will present the results to the group.
-If there is only one candidate for a position, a quick way to cast the vote would be for the President to ask for someone to close the nominations and cast a unanimous ballot for that individual for the specific position.
-Continue this process for all of the positions your club is electing officers for.
-Once elections are complete, the President should ask for a motion to destroy the ballots. This is a great way to ensure that you do not have to keep them for any specific amount of time.
Derived from Michigan State University Extension

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