Prerequisite: None

Time: 30 seconds

Before the Meeting: Before the meeting begins, take the plastic ballot box with you to your seat.

1. When called upon, stand at your place and say something like:

"Mr./Madam Toastmaster, fellow Toastmasters and guests, as Vote Counter I will be counting the votes for the best in each of the following categories: Table-topics, Formal Speaker, Evaluator, and Program Manager.

Use these ballots to vote for the Toastmaster you felt was best in each category, and give them to me when I collect them after each section of the meeting. At the end of the meeting, I will bring the results up to the Toastmaster and President. After each of the prepared speeches, please use the top portions of the ballot sheet to give helpful and encouraging comments to the speakers, put the speaker's name on the tear-off, and give to me so I can pass these to the speakers."

2. If there is a tie, you should cast the tie-breaking vote. (Don’t mention that there was a tie.)
3. Participants who fall short of or exceed time limits are not eligible for awards.

NOTE: When you count the ballots, don't count them by writing a mark for each one on a piece of paper. You don't have much time to count the ballots and you need to do it fast. The fastest way is simply to sort all of the ballots for Speaker (for example) into separate piles by name. It's usually easy to tell at a glance which pile is biggest; and that person wins. If two piles seem close to being the same size, you should then count the two piles of ballots. Give the Toastmaster or President one of the ballots that has the winner's name on it.

You should give the Toastmaster the winning ballots for Tabletopics, Speaker and Evaluator as soon as possible after you collect the ballots for best Evaluator. After the Toastmaster presents the awards s/he will return control of the meeting to the President, who will call for the vote for Best Program Manager. Begin collecting Best Program Manager ballots right away, and count them as soon as possible. The President will try to occupy time while s/he waits for you to bring the winning ballot.