Guest Patty Posted March 17, 2015 at 08:29 PM Report Share Posted March 17, 2015 at 08:29 PM Our organization is trying to conduct email votes to pass a motion, but not all members are responding to the vote. It was suggested to inform the members if a vote is not cast by email within a certain time frame, the non-communication will be considered a vote to the majority of respondents. Can a non-response be counted as a vote of the majority of respondents? Hope this makes sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jstackpo Posted March 17, 2015 at 08:35 PM Report Share Posted March 17, 2015 at 08:35 PM Important first thing: Do your bylaws authorize using e-mail to vote? If no, then all such votes are improper and invalid. If yes, then your bylaws, or other rules, should spell out the details of how the vote is to be conducted. In particular a person not voting -- an abstention, or abstainer -- cannot be counted as for or against a motion unless your rules have adopted that system (not a good one, by the way) ahead of time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Transpower Posted March 17, 2015 at 08:37 PM Report Share Posted March 17, 2015 at 08:37 PM E-mail voting is not allowed by RONR unless authorized in your bylaws or other rules. See RONR (11th ed.), p. 1n, pp. 97-99. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Brown Posted March 17, 2015 at 08:37 PM Report Share Posted March 17, 2015 at 08:37 PM Can a non-response be counted as a vote of the majority of respondents? Hope this makes sense.No, it cannot. A non-response is not a vote. It is an abstention. It doesn't count for or against anything or anyone any more than if the member abstained in person or stayed home from the meeting without voting at all. However, if the vote requirement is based on a percentage of the members present, or of the entire membership, rather than the customary "members present and voting", an abstention can have the effect of a no vote, but it is not a no vote and should not be counted as such. Example: You have 100 members and 35 vote yes and 25 vote no and 60 40 don't vote at all. The measure passes based on the usual majority vote, but fails if the requirement is that it be carried by a majority of the entire membership, such as might be required for a bylaw amendment. Your bylaws should specify the vote threshold. Lastly, as I see Dr. Stackpole just pointed out, you cannot have a mail vote or email vote unless your bylaws specifically authorize it or it is required by state law. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Patty Posted March 17, 2015 at 08:44 PM Report Share Posted March 17, 2015 at 08:44 PM Thank you for the responses - you have cleared this up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Novosielski Posted March 18, 2015 at 12:46 PM Report Share Posted March 18, 2015 at 12:46 PM Our organization is trying to conduct email votes to pass a motion, but not all members are responding to the vote. It was suggested to inform the members if a vote is not cast by email within a certain time frame, the non-communication will be considered a vote to the majority of respondents. Can a non-response be counted as a vote of the majority of respondents? Hope this makes sense.It makes sense, but it's completely against Robert's Rules. Where do you imagine you could get the authority to do this? Who is making up these rules as they go along? Is e-mail voting even permitted in your bylaws in the first place? If it is, then there should also be rules for how it's carried out. There certainly are none in RONR. Most particularly, there is nothing that would ever allow a non-response to be counted as a vote. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanielEHayes Posted March 19, 2015 at 03:02 PM Report Share Posted March 19, 2015 at 03:02 PM As Mr Novosielski has mentioned, there is NO WAY a non-response could be considered a vote. It is an abstension which is NOT a vote. Now while it is possible to verbally respond that you abstain, that is a response and not a vote. I am going to post the email rules for one of my Organizations for the sake of a philosophical discussion in a new thread that will be somewhat related to this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Novosielski Posted March 30, 2015 at 03:02 PM Report Share Posted March 30, 2015 at 03:02 PM Best case, and most typical case, a non-response is not counted, since it is--well--a non-response. In some cases (less typical) a non-response, while not a vote, may have the effect of a No vote. But it is not a No vote, since it is not a vote. In no case is a non-vote ever counted as a Yes vote. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Les Bryan Posted February 14, 2016 at 09:28 PM Report Share Posted February 14, 2016 at 09:28 PM A 20 member organization tried to pass a new by-law change. We had 13 yes votes in favor and 6 no votes, and 1 abstain. It takes a two thirds majority to pass any by-law change . Most members decided the abstain vote did not count for or against the proposal. The math of the 19 votes yielded a two thirds majority and our idea that the proposal passed. The no voters said it was not a two thirds majority. Any comments ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Martin Posted February 14, 2016 at 09:36 PM Report Share Posted February 14, 2016 at 09:36 PM 5 minutes ago, Guest Les Bryan said: A 20 member organization tried to pass a new by-law change. We had 13 yes votes in favor and 6 no votes, and 1 abstain. It takes a two thirds majority to pass any by-law change . Most members decided the abstain vote did not count for or against the proposal. The math of the 19 votes yielded a two thirds majority and our idea that the proposal passed. The no voters said it was not a two thirds majority. Any comments ? See FAQ #6. In the future, please post a new question as a new topic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Novosielski Posted February 14, 2016 at 10:16 PM Report Share Posted February 14, 2016 at 10:16 PM 46 minutes ago, Guest Les Bryan said: A 20 member organization tried to pass a new by-law change. We had 13 yes votes in favor and 6 no votes, and 1 abstain. It takes a two thirds majority to pass any by-law change . Most members decided the abstain vote did not count for or against the proposal. The math of the 19 votes yielded a two thirds majority and our idea that the proposal passed. The no voters said it was not a two thirds majority. Any comments ? Yes, it was a 2/3 vote (not "2/3 majority" which is a contradiction). In fact, even if two people had abstained, and it was 12-6, it would still pass. Any time the Yes votes are at least twice as many as the No votes, a 2/3 vote has been achieved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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