MR. PARLIAMENTARIAN
James H. Stewart
Professional Registered Parliamentarian,
VOTING
Voting is a tricky business. It is the end result of the deliberative process, and the most important part of that process.
There are 5 basic types of votes. General Consent, Voice, Rising, Counted, and Ballot.
For matters of routine business, a vote can be taken by General Consent. The Chair says "If there are no objections, (pause) the motion is approved" While this can be used on routine matters, a vote should be taken on any matter of substance or that commits the organization to expenditure of funds, a specific course of action, takes a political position, or in all elections. This should be done even if there appears to be consensus among the group. Over use of General Consent makes people feel dis-enfranchised and can appear to 'railroad' matters, where taking votes empowers people and encourages participation, even where the vote is unanimous.
A Voice vote is the most common type of voting in most organizations, The Chair states the motion and says 'all those in favor say Aye" and then 'all those in favor say No' . The chair then announces which side won.
A Rising vote is normally done in larger bodies of people when a more definitive method is needed. Instead of saying Aye or No, the voters rise (or raise hands, or voting cards). This may give the Chair a better idea of the vote than a simple voice vote.
A Counted vote is done in a similar manner to a rising vote, except that the votes are actually counted. Counting can be done by Tellers (persons specifically assigned to count votes) or by the voters counting off in order. This gives a very definitive result to the voting process, but can also be time consuming. NOTE: A Roll Call vote is a variant of the counted vote. In this case the secretary calls the roll of voters, and each one says Aye, No or abstain, the answer is recorded in the minutes. This is done when it is desired to have a record of who voted in the minutes, or where there are non-voting persons in the room and it is desired to be sure no one votes who is not entitled to.
A Ballot vote is a vote where each voter writes there vote on a pieced of paper. This is also a secret vote, where no one knows how anyone voted. Again, gives a very definitive answer to the vote.
CHAIRMAN VOTING
The practice of the Chairman no voting is more tradition than rule. The Chairman is supposed to show an outward sense of neutrality when presiding. Voting shows that the chair is not neutral. So, in order to preserve the appearance of neutrality, the chairman does not vote, except when there vote makes a difference or is secret as in a ballot vote.
In a voice vote - the chair would not vote, as a difference of one vote is likely to close to call anyway. In a Rising vote, the situation is the same. In a counted vote, the chair may vote if it will make a difference, but the chair votes last, so they can determine if their vote makes a difference, and so the chairs vote does not have undue influence on the rest of the vote. (This is true for a roll call vote as well, he chairs name is called last). In a ballot vote, the vote is secrete therefore there is no reason for the chair not to vote.
MAJORITY and 2/3 VOTES
Most vote are a majority vote. A majority is more than half, NOT 50% plus one. If there are 10 votes cast, half would be 5, so a majority is 6 (more than half) if there are 11 votes cast, half would be 5.5, so a majority would still be 6. (more than half) In a 2/3 vote, if 10 votes are cast, 2/3 is 7.5 - so 8 votes are needed to pass the motion. One must be careful in calculating a 2/3 vote, particularly with large numbers. An easy way is to double the negative vote, if the result is more than the positive vote, then 2/3 was not reached and the motion fails.
Note also that in a 2/3 vote, an abstention, although not a vote and not counted, has the effect of a vote for the prevailing side. If there are 100 people eligible to vote, and they all vote on a 2/3 matter, it takes 67 (actually 66 2/3- therefore 67) to pass the measure. If 25 abstain so that only 75 votes are cast, it only takes 50 to pass the measure. Therefore the abstentions have the effect of voting on the prevailing side by reducing the numbers necessary for passage or defeat.