Abstention

[Guest Randy]

I am on a Board with 15 Elected Members We have 4 or 5 members that when voting on any thing will Abstain does this vote count as a yes or No or does it not count at all. Thanks

[George Mervosh]

See FAQ#6

[Guest Al Aievoli]

I have read the faq #6, but it is still confusing to me. It first says if either majority vote or 2/3 is required, abstentions have no effect, bt then says if the vote required is a majority or 2/3 of the members prsent, then an abstention will have the same ffect as a no vote. Then says an abstenion is not a vote and is not counted as a vote. So the question remains, if our board has 6 members and 3 abstain, does it mean that a majority would be of the 3 remaining votes, meaning that 2 votes would be the majority? Or will it say that you need 4 out of the 6 votes to pass and therefore if you had 3 absentions, then it fails?

[Dan Honemann]

I have read the faq #6, but it is still confusing to me. It first says if either majority vote or 2/3 is required, abstentions have no effect, bt then says if the vote required is a majority or 2/3 of the members prsent, then an abstention will have the same ffect as a no vote. Then says an abstenion is not a vote and is not counted as a vote. So the question remains, if our board has 6 members and 3 abstain, does it mean that a majority would be of the 3 remaining votes, meaning that 2 votes would be the majority? Or will it say that you need 4 out of the 6 votes to pass and therefore if you had 3 absentions, then it fails?

Do you have some special rule that takes you out of the "usual situation" described in the FAQ? Only you can answer this question. If not, and therefore the rule in RONR applies, abstentions have absolutely no effect on the outcome of the vote. If only three votes are cast, two in favor will constitute both a majority vote in favor and a two-thirds vote in favor.