Majority Vote

[Guest Melissa]

When a committee votes on their own members to be their representatives on another committee and more candidates have the majority vote than what spots are available, does the committee pick the candidates with the highest number of votes or do they pick the candidate with the highest number and vote again on the remaining candidates?

[Guest Nancy N.]

Almost three hours, and no bites?

CT 1

[David A Foulkes]

Waiting for Gary.

[sMargaret]

Oooh - I want to take a stab at it!

When a committee votes on their own members to be their representatives on another committee and more candidates have the majority vote than what spots are available,

However did you end up with more candidates getting a majority vote than spots available?

Let's say you have 2 spots available, and 10 people running for the two spots. Hold a vote for spot #1 - elect the winner, assuming the winner gets a majority Hold a vote for spot #2, and elect the winner, assuming the winner gets a majority.

If there isn't a majority, re-vote. Keep doing that until you have a majority. RONR does not have the ability to drop people from the ballot, although people may choose to withdraw.

Also check bylaws, to see if you only need a plurality vote, or if there is some other little wrinkle to your specific rules.

[Josh Martin]

When a committee votes on their own members to be their representatives on another committee and more candidates have the majority vote than what spots are available, does the committee pick the candidates with the highest number of votes or do they pick the candidate with the highest number and vote again on the remaining candidates?

The candidates with the highest number are elected.

However did you end up with more candidates getting a majority vote than spots available?

When electing multiple candidates for identical positions, it is possible for more candidates to receive a majority than there are positions available. (And no, I don't have the patience to tinker with the numbers to provide an example right now.)

Let's say you have 2 spots available, and 10 people running for the two spots. Hold a vote for spot #1 - elect the winner, assuming the winner gets a majority Hold a vote for spot #2, and elect the winner, assuming the winner gets a majority.

If there isn't a majority, re-vote. Keep doing that until you have a majority. RONR does not have the ability to drop people from the ballot, although people may choose to withdraw.

Also check bylaws, to see if you only need a plurality vote, or if there is some other little wrinkle to your specific rules.

If the society is electing multiple identical positions, it should be done on one ballot, with each member voting for up to as many candidates as there are positions. See RONR, 11th ed., pg. 441, lines 11-24.

[Guest math_major]

>> When electing multiple candidates for identical positions, it is possible for more candidates to receive a majority than there are positions available.

Imagine 30 voters, all casting perfectly proper ballots, which list 3 candidates A, B, C, and each ballot is marked for only two candidates.

Number the ballots, 1 to 30

Then, suppose only ballots 1 through 16 are marked for A (each of course also marked for B or C). This means A has received a majority.

Suppose ballots ballots 15 through 30 (that's 16 ballots, BTW, not 15) are marked for B (note: ballots 15 and 16 are now fully described, they are marked A & . B has also received a majority.

Last, suppose ballots 1 through 14 AND 17 through 30 are marked for C, C also received a majority, 14 + 14 =28

Recap: Ballots 1-14 A/C; 15-16 A/B; 17-30 B/C

No coffee yet this am but I think that's a proper example.

[Guest math_major]

And having had my coffee, I think a better example might be 14 A/C ballots, 5 A/B, 11 B/C giving A 19 votes, B 16, and C 25

[Rev Ed]

When electing multiple candidates for identical positions, it is possible for more candidates to receive a majority than there are positions available. (And no, I don't have the patience to tinker with the numbers to provide an example right now.)

So if there are three members to be elected, and four people receive a majority vote, the top three candidates are elected and the fourth is not even though the fourth has enough votes to be elected.

Now what if #3 and #4 had the same number of votes? That would trigger another ballot in my opinion.

[Josh Martin]

So if there are three members to be elected, and four people receive a majority vote, the top three candidates are elected and the fourth is not even though the fourth has enough votes to be elected.

Yes... but I would say "has a majority" rather than "has enough votes to be elected," since under the rules, the fourth candidate does not have enough votes to be elected in this instance. See RONR, 11th ed., pg. 441, lines 16-18.

Now what if #3 and #4 had the same number of votes? That would trigger another ballot in my opinion.

Correct. In that instance, the top two candidates would be elected and another ballot would be held for the remaining position. See RONR, 11th ed., pg. 441, lines 21-24.

[Rev Ed]

Yes... but I would say "has a majority" rather than "has enough votes to be elected," since under the rules, the fourth candidate does not have enough votes to be elected in this instance. See RONR, 11th ed., pg. 441, lines 16-18.

Thanks - just wanted to make sure I was right in my line of thinking - and yes "has a majority" is vastly more undertandable than "has enough votes to be elected."