Jump to content
The Official RONR Q & A Forums

Voting on Motions


Guest F. Samson

Recommended Posts

A committee's bylaws specifies an official meeting requires a majority of the members be in attendence. The bylaws further state that the committee make decisions by majority vote.

If a meeting has a majority of its members in attendence thus making the meeting "official", can a vote be taken on a motion by those in attendence? Some members are interpreting "the committee makes decisions by majority vote" to mean that all committee members must vote on a motion whether they are in attendence for that meeting or not.

The bylaws don't say that all members must vote on a motion, simply that the committee make decisions by majority vote.

Your thoughts please.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A committee's bylaws specifies an official meeting requires a majority of the members be in attendence. The bylaws further state that the committee make decisions by majority vote.

If a meeting has a majority of its members in attendence thus making the meeting "official", can a vote be taken on a motion by those in attendence? Some members are interpreting "the committee makes decisions by majority vote" to mean that all committee members must vote on a motion whether they are in attendence for that meeting or not.

The bylaws don't say that all members must vote on a motion, simply that the committee make decisions by majority vote.

Your thoughts please.

Unless your bylaws specifically provide for absentee voting (having absent Committee members vote would constitute absentee voting) you can't do it (RONR pp. 408-409). If your bylaws do provide for absentee voting it will be up to you all to answer your question. See RONR pp. 570-573 for some help with that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A committee's bylaws specifies an official meeting requires a majority of the members be in attendence. The bylaws further state that the committee make decisions by majority vote.

If a meeting has a majority of its members in attendence thus making the meeting "official", can a vote be taken on a motion by those in attendence? Some members are interpreting "the committee makes decisions by majority vote" to mean that all committee members must vote on a motion whether they are in attendence for that meeting or not.

The bylaws don't say that all members must vote on a motion, simply that the committee make decisions by majority vote.

Your thoughts please.

Per RONR, yes as long as a quorum is present. What you essentially describe in sentence #1 is the quorum, the number of members required to be in attendance to allow the assembly to validly conduct business. This seems to have been met. Following that, most every motion may be considered and voted on, and if a majority (more than half) of the votes cast are in the affirmative, the motion is adopted. Of course, you refer to a committee here, so I'd assume they are reporting their "decisions" to another group (Board, membership)?

Since your bylaws come into play here (as noted in your first two sentences), the rules in RONR take a second seat to them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A committee's bylaws specifies an official meeting requires a majority of the members be in attendence. The bylaws further state that the committee make decisions by majority vote.

If a meeting has a majority of its members in attendence thus making the meeting "official", can a vote be taken on a motion by those in attendence?

Of course. Once the meeting meets this "quorum" requirement, and there are enough people present, it means those in attendance can conduct any business that properly comes before the committee.

Some members are interpreting "the committee makes decisions by majority vote" to mean that all committee members must vote on a motion whether they are in attendence for that meeting or not.

Definitely not. A "majority vote" means specifically a majority of those present AND voting. Only those who are present may vote, and only those who actually do vote affect the outcome. Whenever there are more Yes votes than No votes, a majority vote is satisfied. Otherwise, such as a tie vote, it is not.

The bylaws don't say that all members must vote on a motion, simply that the committee make decisions by majority vote.

Members don't have to vote, even if present. They can abstain if they have no opinion, and then the decision is made by a majority of those who do vote. The same rule: more Yes than No votes, applies. So if more than half the members show up, you can pass a motion by having one vote in favor and nobody else voting at all.

Not only is that a majority vote, it's unanimous!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...