President voting

[Guest Denise]

I am a member of a 9 person Board - non-profit. We have always been advised that the President can only vote to break a tie - is this correct? And if not, what are the 'rules'?.

Thanks

[Chris Harrison]

See FAQ #1.

[Rev Ed]

Normally the President will not vote in order to keep the appearance of being neutral. The exceptions are:

1) When the vote is by ballot.

2) When the President's vote will affect the outcome.

3) Tied in with #2, if there is a tie vote or to create a tie vote. If there is a tie vote, the President could vote yes to pass the motion. Voting no would be pointless according to RONR as a tie vote defeats the motion. If there is one more "yes" vote than "no" votes, the President can vote "no" to create a tie and defeat the motion.

4) In small Boards where the relaxed rules of RONR are being used, the President is free to act like any other member (i.e. to vote, make motions, debate, etc.) As a "small Board" according to RONR - 9 is less than that 13 members RONR mentions - in your organization the President would always be allowed to vote at Board meetings.

[Guest Denise]

Thank you!

[Dan Honemann]

As a "small Board" according to RONR - 9 is less than that 13 members RONR mentions - in your organization the President would always be allowed to vote at Board meetings.

RONR makes no mention of the number 13 in this connection, however.

[Trina]

'not more than about a dozen' (the language used several times in RONR -- p. 10 and p. 487, and perhaps elsewhere) has a somewhat different meaning than 'less than 13'

To my mind, the language actually found in RONR is deliberately approximate -- it gives a ballpark idea of what 'small' means. Saying 'less than 13' (which is indeed identical to 'not more than a dozen') adds precision that isn't actually there in the source text. We have to assume the additional word 'about' is there for a reason.