Start with the bylaws
The mosque’s bylaws or constitution decide the essentials: who may vote, who may stand, how candidates are nominated, how long terms last, whether proxy or postal votes are allowed, and what counts as a quorum. Read them before planning anything. Where they are silent or unclear, the board agrees the missing rules in writing and publishes them before nominations open, not after a dispute starts. State law can also have a say in how a nonprofit elects its board, and the mosque’s lawyer can tell you what applies.
An election committee
Give the election to a small committee, often three people, appointed by the board, none of whom is standing. The committee keeps the roll, takes the nominations, runs the vote, counts it with witnesses and announces the result. When a question comes up, it answers from the published rules, and writes down what it decided and why.
The roll of members
- Who is on it. Members in good standing on a cut-off date the rules name, for example with dues paid by that date and over a minimum age.
- A week to check it. Members can confirm they are on the roll, and ask for a correction, for a set time. Show each person their own entry, or the roll to members only, never on a public page.
- Then it closes. After the deadline nobody is added or removed. Adding members on election day is how results end up challenged.
Nominations
Open nominations for a fixed period, two weeks for example, with a simple form: the candidate, the seat, and a nominator and seconder if the bylaws ask for them. The committee checks each candidate against the rules and tells them in writing whether they are on the ballot. Each candidate can send a short statement, the same length for everyone, and the statements go out together, in one message, so no candidate is heard first.
A secret ballot
Secret means nobody can tell how any member voted, the committee included.
- On paper: a sealed box, ballots with no marks or numbers that could identify a voter, and the roll ticked off as each member takes one ballot.
- Online: each member on the roll gets one ballot, the system records that they voted separately from how they voted, and a receipt code lets each voter check their ballot was counted without showing anyone their choice.
- Both: some mosques offer both. The roll is marked the moment a member votes either way, so nobody votes twice.
The count
Two counters who aren’t standing count every ballot, then count again. If the bylaws allow it, each candidate can send an observer to watch. Spoiled and blank ballots are set aside, counted and reported, not quietly dropped. The two counters write the totals on a tally sheet, check that the number of ballots matches the number of members ticked off the roll, and both sign it.
Publishing the result
Announce the result with its numbers: the votes for each candidate, the ballots cast out of the members on the roll, and the spoiled ballots. The committee certifies it in writing and the board records it in its minutes. Keep the ballots, or the online record, sealed until the time for challenges has passed, and say in the rules how a member raises a challenge: in writing, to the committee, within a set number of days.