Reporting the vote incorrectly

[Guest Penny]

At a meeting, a motion was rejected by a large majority and the chair mistakenly reported the resolution wS adopted. The stenographer and several members brought it to the chairs attention after the close of session. Now what ?

[Gary Novosielski]

Now nothing.  They should have raised a point of order at the time.  Waiting until after the meeting is over is just too late.

[Guest Penny]

But do they have to revote? The chair just made a mistake. Should the minutes be corrected after they are issued?

[Bruce Lages]

As Mr. Novosielski noted, once the assembly moved on to other business, or adjourned the meeting, without a point of order being raised about the incorrect vote report, it's too late to make the correction - the declaration by the chair stands. However, since you say the motion was rejected by a large majority, it should be a simple matter to rescind the motion at the next meeting. The motion to rescind will require a 2/3 vote if previous notice of the intent to rescind is not given, or a majority vote if previous notice is given.

 

No, the minutes should not be 'corrected' because they will not be in error as long as they report exactly what happened, And what happened was the chair declared the motion adopted.

[Gary c Tesser]

Penny, what do you mean by "the chair mistakenly reported the resolution [as] adopted"?  He mistakenly reported it where, when, to whom?

 

I ask because it may matter (although it doesn't if Mr Novosielski and Mr Lages understand you correctly, that this was the chair announcing the result of the vote).

[Dan Honemann]

I would like Penny to tell us what kind of vote was taken. Was it a voice vote, an uncounted rising vote or vote by show of hands, a counted rising vote, a ballot vote, or what?

[Guest Pen y]

This was a raise of hands after the second reading of a bylaw change as prescribed by our rules and regs and stated in the rules of convention. The credential committee reported 758 delegates in attendance. There were appro. 20 hands raised in support of the resolution. It clearly failed and the chair trey just made a mistake. Thanks for your help eveyone

[jstackpo]

Oh... Kay ...  but how many hands went up in opposition?

 

And...  unfortunately... since this was a bylaw amendment that was declared to be adopted, you won't be able to just rescind it but you'll have to go through the full bylaw amendment process to undo what happened.

[Timothy]

Perhaps, but if the secretary assumed the chair said it failed while the stenographer and some other members thought he said it passed, it will show up in the minutes as having failed. They can try to get it changed in the minutes, but it is likely that the majority believe the amendment failed and they aren't going to change the minutes. A few people telling the chair that they think they heard him use the wrong word does not constitute the adoption of a motion.

[George Mervosh]

Was the vote count recorded in the minutes?

[Dan Honemann]

Was the vote count recorded in the minutes?

 

I gather that it was not a counted vote.

[George Mervosh]

I gather that it was not a counted vote.

 

I was looking for a glimmer of hope.