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Whowants2know

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Our council has been deadlocked for months now. But I believe the way the ballots are being done are a fault. We have an empty seat on our council. 2 have applied. each ballot has a yes or no beside each candidates name. 3 are voting yes for one candidate and are 3 voting for both.

Can a councilor vote no on both of them?

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'No' votes are not proper in an election, according to RONR. The only way to vote against one candidate is to vote for someone else. Whether correcting the ballot to eliminate the 'no' option would resolve your problem, I'm not sure -- the description of how the votes are currently divided is unclear to me. The other thing that is odd, by RONR standards, is the idea that this election process can go on for 'months.' Normally, in case of a tie, the election would be continued -- by repeated rounds of balloting -- until someone is elected. Someone may change his/her vote, a compromise candidate may be elected... something eventually happens because people simply don't want to sit around all day and night, voting again and again and again...

'In elections, "for" and "against" spaces or boxes shoud not be used. They are applicable only with respect to votes on motions. In an election, a voter can vote against one candidate only by voting for another who has been nominated or by writing in the name of another candidate.' (RONR 11th ed. p. 414 ll. 1-5)

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You are quite correct that you are doing the ballot voting incorrectly.

Ballot elections are NOT done with Yes/No options, but by putting a mark ("x" is common) in a box (or something) next to the name of the candidate you like.

If you don't like a particular candidate (and he's the only one on the ballot), or any of the candidates (if more than one), nominate someone else so there will be two (or more) names, or just write in the name of your preferred person (with an X to make sure your intent is clear).

And one voter can only vote for one person, as you have only one position open for election.

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