Comment 14 for bug 861171

Workaround:

As I've commented previously, this partial solution is to modify this file:

/usr/share/polkit-1/actions/org.freedesktop.consolekit.policy

and change:

auth_admin_keep

to:

yes

Edit the file /usr/share/polkit-1/actions/org.freedesktop.consolekit.policy using your favorite text editor. You will need root permissions.

Change the section relating to shutdown when others are logged in from

  <action id="org.freedesktop.consolekit.system.stop-multiple-users">
    <description>Stop the system when multiple users are logged in</description>
    <message>System policy prevents stopping the system when other users are logged in</message>
    <defaults>
      <allow_inactive>no</allow_inactive>
      <allow_active>auth_admin_keep</allow_active>
    </defaults>
  </action>

to

  <action id="org.freedesktop.consolekit.system.stop-multiple-users">
    <description>Stop the system when multiple users are logged in</description>
    <message>System policy prevents stopping the system when other users are logged in</message>
    <defaults>
      <allow_inactive>no</allow_inactive>
      <allow_active>yes</allow_active>
    </defaults>
  </action>

and the section relating to rebooting when others are logged in from

  <action id="org.freedesktop.consolekit.system.restart-multiple-users">
    <description>Restart the system when multiple users are logged in</description>
    <message>System policy prevents restarting the system when other users are logged in</message>
    <defaults>
      <allow_inactive>no</allow_inactive>
      <allow_active>auth_admin_keep</allow_active>
    </defaults>
  </action>

to

  <action id="org.freedesktop.consolekit.system.restart-multiple-users">
    <description>Restart the system when multiple users are logged in</description>
    <message>System policy prevents restarting the system when other users are logged in</message>
    <defaults>
      <allow_inactive>no</allow_inactive>
      <allow_active>yes</allow_active>
    </defaults>
  </action>

And that will allow you (any user) shutdown and reboot the PC when multiple users are logged in. Whether you want to do that is a different question.

Source: http://askubuntu.com/questions/1190/how-can-i-make-shutdown-not-require-admin-password