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Voting rules not followed


Guest David S

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In a previous topic the question of voting on two separate items together was raised. The answer was that it was acceptable providing there was no dissent. In the event that a board member disagreed with voting on two different items at once, it was stated that the items had to be separated and debated/voted upon individually. When the President refuses to do so despite objection, and it is documented in the minutes, what recourse is there under the rules? Is the vote valid? Thank you in advance. This is a great site!

Please excuse me if I posted this twice.

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Thank you for your assistance. That was done but was ignored.

So, here's how it should work:

If the two issues in the motion are unrelated ("I move to spend $500 to purchase a new sign for the club, and to support Ralph Nader's bid for the Presidency"), they must be divided into two on the demand of any member. If the two are related, then a member can make a motion to divide the question, but no member can demand that it be divided unilaterally.

If the president refuses to admit a motion, a point of order should be raised about the issue. If the president rules against the point of order, the ruling should be appealed to your board, which can decide the matter by majority vote.

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Thank you for your assistance. That was done but was ignored.

As others have explained, at this point the vote stands.

However, if a lot of the board members share your discomfort with what happened, then the board could certainly 'fix' what happened by using the motion to amend something previously adopted. For example, if the motion was "to do A and B", where A had overwhelming support, and B just passed because it was attached to A in the motion, then the body might decide to amend the adopted motion so as to remove the "and B" part of it. This is only possible to the extent that the adopted motion has not yet been executed. The motions to rescind or amend something previously adopted are covered on pp. 305-310 (RONR 11th ed.).

Education about the right way to handle this sort of thing in the future (as described by Mr. Hunt) may be helpful... if the board members are willing to learn. In the end, though, the rules of parliamentary procedure can only be enforced to the extent that the assembly (or at least the majority of the members of the assembly) want to enforce them.

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