Member Recusal

[Guest Eddie Mills]

If passage of proposal requires a 2/3 vote of those eligible to vote and six out of twelve members who are eligible to vote recuse themselves, what is the number of votes then required for passage ? 2/3 of twelve or 2/3 of six?

[hmtcastle]

If passage of proposal requires a 2/3 vote of those eligible to vote and six out of twelve members who are eligible to vote recuse themselves, what is the number of votes then required for passage ? 2/3 of twelve or 2/3 of six?

A two-thirds vote means that there are at least twice as many "yes" votes as "no" votes. A vote of 1-0 constitutes a two-thirds vote, as does a vote of 4-2. You don't count the members who don't vote.

[David A Foulkes]

If passage of proposal requires a 2/3 vote of those eligible to vote and six out of twelve members who are eligible to vote recuse themselves, what is the number of votes then required for passage ? 2/3 of twelve or 2/3 of six?

Is this language actually found in your bylaws, or somewhere in your rules? If twelve members are present and "eligible to vote", it could be read that the voting threshold is 8, despite the recusals. While those six members choose not to vote, they are still eligible to vote nonetheless. They have not lost their right to vote, just chosen not to.

[tctheatc]

If passage of proposal requires a 2/3 vote of those eligible to vote and six out of twelve members who are eligible to vote recuse themselves, what is the number of votes then required for passage ? 2/3 of twelve or 2/3 of six?

You can make sure you always remember this by extending the 2/3 of 12 "option" to its illogical conclusion. You'd need 8 out of 6 votes, which is impossible. If it were that easy to block a vote, virtually nothing would ever get done!

[Shmuel Gerber]

If passage of proposal requires a 2/3 vote of those eligible to vote and six out of twelve members who are eligible to vote recuse themselves, what is the number of votes then required for passage ? 2/3 of twelve or 2/3 of six?

You can make sure you always remember this by extending the 2/3 of 12 "option" to its illogical conclusion. You'd need 8 out of 6 votes, which is impossible. If it were that easy to block a vote, virtually nothing would ever get done!

I don't understand this reply at all.

[Josh Martin]

If passage of proposal requires a 2/3 vote of those eligible to vote and six out of twelve members who are eligible to vote recuse themselves, what is the number of votes then required for passage ? 2/3 of twelve or 2/3 of six?

If the motion requires a vote of 2/3 of those eligible to vote and twelve members are eligible to vote, eight votes are required for adoption.

You can make sure you always remember this by extending the 2/3 of 12 "option" to its illogical conclusion.

It doesn't seem illogical to me.

If it were that easy to block a vote, virtually nothing would ever get done!

I suspect the voting requirement of 2/3 of the entire membership is required by the organization's governing documents only for specific classes of business, not for everything.

[Gary Novosielski]

I suspect the voting requirement of 2/3 of the entire membership is required by the organization's governing documents only for specific classes of business, not for everything.

Based on a possibly naïve paraphrase, we don't know if it's required for any class of business.