Elections

[Guest Norman]

Our recent subdivision association held an election. There was a tie for President. The current President distributed a letter ballot for an additional vote. At least 2 people I know never received those letters. The current president ended the letter saying that a non-response indicated a vote for the current president. All votes were to be in a sealed envelope and delivered to the secretary. To the best of my knowledge the association is "loosely" run on Roberts Rules. Several people have voiced their opposition to the last line of the letter about a non-response vote being counted as a vote for the current president. Any comments?

[Chris Harrison]

Our recent subdivision association held an election. There was a tie for President. The current President distributed a letter ballot for an additional vote. At least 2 people I know never received those letters. The current president ended the letter saying that a non-response indicated a vote for the current president. All votes were to be in a sealed envelope and delivered to the secretary. To the best of my knowledge the association is "loosely" run on Roberts Rules. Several people have voiced their opposition to the last line of the letter about a non-response vote being counted as a vote for the current president. Any comments?

Yup, I got a couple comments:

1) Absentee voting is not allowed unless the bylaws specifically provide for it (RONR pp. 408-409). If they don't all of the votes are null and void (RONR p. 244[d]).

2) Even if absentee voting is permitted the fact that some members didn't get their ballots could render the election null and void because these members were deprived of their right to vote (RONR p. 244[e]).

3) Nothing in RONR supports the assertion that someone who doesn't respond automatically counts as a yes vote for the sitting President. You should ask the President to show you some rule that supports his assertion.

4) The President only has the administrative (extra-meeting) authority that the bylaws gives him (RONR p. 440). You should ask him where he thinks he gets the authority to make ANY unilateral decision like claiming that any non-responses is automatically a yes vote for the sitting President.

5) It sure seems like the President is getting WAY too big for his britches and needs to be taken down a peg or two. You all should consider Suspending the Rules to remove him from the chair temporarily to make a point. See Official Interpretation 2006-2 for details and this script for a road map on how to accomplish this. You all should seriously consider removing him from office (assuming you all re-elect him in the first place). See FAQ #20 for details.

[Gary Novosielski]

Our recent subdivision association held an election. There was a tie for President. The current President distributed a letter ballot for an additional vote. At least 2 people I know never received those letters. The current president ended the letter saying that a non-response indicated a vote for the current president. All votes were to be in a sealed envelope and delivered to the secretary. To the best of my knowledge the association is "loosely" run on Roberts Rules. Several people have voiced their opposition to the last line of the letter about a non-response vote being counted as a vote for the current president. Any comments?

Yes. I guess it depends on what "loosely" means. None of this is appropriate by any stretch of the imagination. But I can't even figure out from your question whether the original vote was even held at a meeting. Were these absentee ballots by mail?

Simply put, a tie is half. A majority is more than half. So a tie vote elects nobody. And so you vote again. But in no case is a non-response equal to a yes vote. That's utter nonsense.