diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index f17ce237f4d4..d97e8c896f7b 100755
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -816,6 +816,8 @@
               <!-- exclude the shaded protobuf files -->
               <exclude>**/shaded/com/google/protobuf/**</exclude>
               <exclude>**/src/main/patches/**</exclude>
+              <!-- email template for votes -->
+              <exclude>dev-support/create-release/vote.tmpl</exclude>
             </excludes>
           </configuration>
         </plugin>