Guest Lee DeMartino Posted March 25, 2015 at 02:16 PM Report Share Posted March 25, 2015 at 02:16 PM A phone vote of 11 villa owners was taken in February of 2013. 5 voted yes, 4 voted no, 1 vote was blank and 1 vote was spoiled. The vote was 5 to 4 to remove a tree from a villa complexes property. It has taken until March of 2015 to gain City approval to remove the tree. The City said no to the tree removal twice. The City brought in a new administrator. The new administrator approved removing the tree. Is the 5 to 4 vote still valid or is there a time limit on acting on a vote? In other words must the board take a second vote due to some statute of limitations under Robert's Rules? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Brown Posted March 25, 2015 at 02:27 PM Report Share Posted March 25, 2015 at 02:27 PM There is no "statute of limitations" on motions in RONR other than the fact that a motion cannot be rescinded or amended after it has already been executed. Do your bylaws authorize telephone voting? It is not allowed by RONR unless your bylaws authorize it or state law requires it. However, committees may conduct some business by telephone. It sounds to me like this was a board, not a committee. A vote of 5 to 4 with one abstention and one "spoiled ballot" is a majority vote, although I do not understand how you can have a blank ballot and a spoiled ballot with a telephone vote. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Martin Posted March 25, 2015 at 06:39 PM Report Share Posted March 25, 2015 at 06:39 PM A phone vote of 11 villa owners was taken in February of 2013. 5 voted yes, 4 voted no, 1 vote was blank and 1 vote was spoiled. The vote was 5 to 4 to remove a tree from a villa complexes property. It has taken until March of 2015 to gain City approval to remove the tree. The City said no to the tree removal twice. The City brought in a new administrator. The new administrator approved removing the tree. Is the 5 to 4 vote still valid or is there a time limit on acting on a vote? In other words must the board take a second vote due to some statute of limitations under Robert's Rules?Could you please elaborate on why one of the votes was declared to be "spoiled?"In any event, if your bylaws authorize the board to conduct its business by phone, then the board's vote from February of 2013 remains valid unless and until it is rescinded or amended.A vote of 5 to 4 with one abstention and one "spoiled ballot" is a majority vote, although I do not understand how you can have a blank ballot and a spoiled ballot with a telephone vote.I'm not sure we can say that with any degree of certainty until we know more about the spoiled vote. An illegal vote is counted as part of the votes cast, although it is not credited to any particular candidate or proposition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Brown Posted March 25, 2015 at 07:36 PM Report Share Posted March 25, 2015 at 07:36 PM I'm not sure we can say that with any degree of certainty until we know more about the spoiled vote. An illegal vote is counted as part of the votes cast, although it is not credited to any particular candidate or proposition.You're right. If the "spoiled vote" was in essence an illegal vote, it would still count as a vote cast. That would make the total votes cast 10, rather than 9, and it would take 6 yes votes to have a majority.... meaning the motion to remove the tree failed. However, if the chair's announcement of the vote result was not challenged by a timely point of order, wouldn't the announced result stand, anyway? The vote to remove the tree was taken in February, 2013...two years ago. It definitely seems too late to order a recount. RONR p 419. Further complicating this, if this was a telephone vote and not an actual (and properly called) telephonic meeting, at what point can or must the announced result be challenged? I imagine that if the tree has already been removed, it is probably moot, but what if the tree still hasn't been removed? How would the results of a telephone vote from two years ago.... assuming it is authorized in the bylaws.... be challenged? At the next meeting, assuming the tree is still standing? Does improperly counting an illegal vote constitute a continuing breach? It all strikes me as being moot now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Martin Posted March 25, 2015 at 10:12 PM Report Share Posted March 25, 2015 at 10:12 PM However, if the chair's announcement of the vote result was not challenged by a timely point of order, wouldn't the announced result stand, anyway?Yes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jstackpo Posted March 25, 2015 at 10:33 PM Report Share Posted March 25, 2015 at 10:33 PM If the tree is still there, however, you could move to rescind the motion calling for it to be removed. See p. 305 for details. SAVE OUR TREES! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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