opposing votes

[Guest katie]

If only one person is running for a board seat, are they automatically elected? What if more people oppose the candidate than vote for him/her?

[Richard Brown]

27 minutes ago, Guest katie said:

If only one person is running for a board seat, are they automatically elected?

Not unless your bylaws contain a provision allowing this or are silent about the manner of voting. Further, if your bylaws require a ballot vote, a vote by secret ballot MUST still be taken even though there is only one candidate.

27 minutes ago, Guest katie said:

 What if more people oppose the candidate than vote for him/her?

Unless your bylaws provide otherwise, a person must receive a majority vote in order to be elected. 

[Hieu H. Huynh]

45 minutes ago, Guest katie said:

What if more people oppose the candidate than vote for him/her?

Elect someone else.

[Bruce Lages]

Also, be aware that the only way to oppose a candidate is to vote for someone else. There should not be a yes/no type of vote for elections. Are you saying that the opposition to this candidate was in the form of 'no' votes?

[Richard Brown]

14 minutes ago, Bruce Lages said:

Also, be aware that the only way to oppose a candidate is to vote for someone else. There should not be a yes/no type of vote for elections. Are you saying that the opposition to this candidate was in the form of 'no' votes?

Bruce, I considered adding a statement along the lines of yours, but if the voting is by voice, a yes/no vote on each candidate is permissible.  In fact, according to RONR, that is the way it should be done when the voting is a voice vote.  I agree that yes/no votes are not appropriate with a ballot vote. 

Edited to add:  See pages 442-443 of RONR for details on conducting elections by voice votes (Viva-voce elections).

Edited September 16, 2017 at 06:42 PM by Richard Brown
Added last paragraph

[Dan Honemann]

1 hour ago, Richard Brown said:

Bruce, I considered adding a statement along the lines of yours, but if the voting is by voice, a yes/no vote on each candidate is permissible.  In fact, according to RONR, that is the way it should be done when the voting is a voice vote.  I agree that yes/no votes are not appropriate with a ballot vote. 

Edited to add:  See pages 442-443 of RONR for details on conducting elections by voice votes (Viva-voce elections).

But if the voting is to be by voice, and there is only one nominee, the chair simply declares that the sole nominee is elected. 

[Richard Brown]

1 hour ago, Daniel H. Honemann said:

But if the voting is to be by voice, and there is only one nominee, the chair simply declares that the sole nominee is elected. 

I agree. I was responding to the comment by Mr. Lages that you never vote yes or no in an election.

[J. J.]

4 hours ago, Daniel H. Honemann said:

But if the voting is to be by voice, and there is only one nominee, the chair simply declares that the sole nominee is elected. 

And what if there is an objection to that and the chair's declaration is overrule. 

(I am not advocating this, but it does happen.)

[Dan Honemann]

9 hours ago, J. J. said:

And what if there is an objection to that and the chair's declaration is overrule. 

(I am not advocating this, but it does happen.)

I don't know exactly what you mean when you say that what happens is that there is an "objection" and the chair's declaration is overruled. Someone simply saying "I object" when the chair properly declares a sole nominee elected doesn't mean anything, and won't prompt a vote of any kind. 

But in any event, I certainly don't know what happened next - I wasn't there. Hopefully the assembly managed to fill the office somehow or other.

 

[J. J.]

2 hours ago, Daniel H. Honemann said:

I don't know exactly what you mean when you say that what happens is that there is an "objection" and the chair's declaration is overruled. Someone simply saying "I object" when the chair properly declares a sole nominee elected doesn't mean anything, and won't prompt a vote of any kind. 

But in any event, I certainly don't know what happened next - I wasn't there. Hopefully the assembly managed to fill the office somehow or other.

 

The majority demands that the chair call for the ayes and noes. 

[Dan Honemann]

21 minutes ago, J. J. said:

The majority demands that the chair call for the ayes and noes. 

So the majority decides to make up their own rules. Good luck with that.

I really don't understand what point, if any, you're trying to make.

[J. J.]

On 9/17/2017 at 9:40 AM, Daniel H. Honemann said:

So the majority decides to make up their own rules. Good luck with that.

I really don't understand what point, if any, you're trying to make.

Simply asking.