Breaking ties of committee votes

[Guest Jeff]

Hi, If a a nominating committee, or other committee, vote ends in a tie, does the president of the borad, cast the deciding vote?

[Chris Harrison]

Not unless the bylaws say so because, 1) only Committee members have a right to vote so unless the President is a Committee member he doesn't even factor into the equation, 2) even if the President is a Committee member that doesn't automatically make him the Committee Chair, and 3) even if the President is the Committee Chair the Committee (Chair and all) vote at the same time so he wouldn't have any tie breaking powers.

[Guest Guest]

Thanks Chris. Here is the delimma. The nomittee committee, on which the president does not serve, is tied 3-3 on selecting a filling a position. What's next?

[George Mervosh]

Thanks Chris. Here is the delimma. The nomittee committee, on which the president does not serve, is tied 3-3 on selecting a filling a position. What's next?

I don't know if the 3-3 vote is for one individual, or 3 in favor of one possible nominee, 3 in favor of another.......but the committee could agree, by majority vote, to nominate both members for office or nominate someone completely different. The committee could also not put forth a nominee for that position if you're hopelessy deadlocked on the issue.

One last thought. Consider agreeing to vote by ballot on your prospective nominee(s). Sometimes members might vote differently when the vote is secret.

[Gary Novosielski]

Hi, If a a nominating committee, or other committee, vote ends in a tie, does the president of the [board], cast the deciding vote?

No, unless he's a member of the committee and hasn't voted yet.

When a vote ends in a tie, the motion being voted on is defeated. So the decision is made.

But we'd need to know what sort of motion you were voting on. If the committee is tasked with coming up with a nomination, then doing nothing is not an option, so you'll need to keep working at it until you can agree on something.