Guest Gabriel Jaramillo Posted July 16, 2015 at 10:28 PM Report Share Posted July 16, 2015 at 10:28 PM Currently on our Student Government Board, we have 3 members. 1 member was absent2 members were present. We voted to appoint a new member to the board.The two members voted YES. Legally, per Roberts Rules, does this meet the 2/3 Vote with only two members voting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Brown Posted July 16, 2015 at 10:30 PM Report Share Posted July 16, 2015 at 10:30 PM Yes. Unless your bylaws specify something different, a two thirds vote is based on those members present and voting....the votes cast. In fact, a vote of 1 to 0 would also meet the threshold, but only one member may not be enough for a quorum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gabriel Jaramillo Posted July 16, 2015 at 10:35 PM Report Share Posted July 16, 2015 at 10:35 PM OK Thank you! Much Appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gabriel Jaramillo Posted July 17, 2015 at 12:06 AM Report Share Posted July 17, 2015 at 12:06 AM Oh man, I am hearing that the vote is suppose to be 2 out of 3. There should have been a third person to make the 2/3 vote. Is there something in writing, I can present to them and state, it is ok to vote with two member and still get away with a 2/3 vote. This is required for the item to pass for student government. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jstackpo Posted July 17, 2015 at 12:12 AM Report Share Posted July 17, 2015 at 12:12 AM Ask the person who you are hearing where he gets that rule. It sure isn't in RONR. It is up to him to prove his assertion since it is NOT standard parliamentary procedure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gabriel Jaramillo Posted July 17, 2015 at 12:23 AM Report Share Posted July 17, 2015 at 12:23 AM They are a little hard headed. I keep researching and researching for some wording and just cant find it. Thanks for that advice JDStackpole. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jstackpo Posted July 17, 2015 at 12:38 AM Report Share Posted July 17, 2015 at 12:38 AM Well, there isn't a specific statement that combines "quorum present" and the definition of "majority (or 2/3) vote" -- the rules are spread through the book, and you (and I) get to put them together logically. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jstackpo Posted July 17, 2015 at 12:45 AM Report Share Posted July 17, 2015 at 12:45 AM FWIMYW, being "hardheaded" is often a symptom of being wrong without anything to back up an assertion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hieu H. Huynh Posted July 17, 2015 at 01:25 AM Report Share Posted July 17, 2015 at 01:25 AM "A two-thirds vote - when the term is unqualified - means at least two thirds of the votes cast by persons entitled to vote, excluding blanks or abstentions, at a regular or properly called meeting." (RONR 11th ed., p. 401, ll. 8-11). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edgar Guest Posted July 17, 2015 at 02:12 AM Report Share Posted July 17, 2015 at 02:12 AM FWIMYW Cat got your tongue? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Brown Posted July 17, 2015 at 03:10 AM Report Share Posted July 17, 2015 at 03:10 AM Guest Gabriel, a vote of 2 to 0 is not a two-thirds vote.... it's a 100 percent vote. 100 percent of those who voted voted yes. Last time I checked, 100 percent is more than two thirds. It's also unanimous. As Hieu Huynh pointed out, the rule for calculating a two thirds vote is on page 401 of RONR. In case you (and your friends) don't have the book, here is a copy and paste of what Mr. Huynh referred to: "Two-Thirds VoteA two-thirds vote—when the term is unqualified—means at least two thirds of the votes cast by persons entitled to vote, excluding blanks or abstentions, at a regular or properly called meeting. For example (assuming that there are no fractions of votes):" Two votes out of two votes cast is definitely two thirds....it's 100 percent of the votes cast. Two thirds of two is one and one-third or 1.333333 (depending on how many decimal points you want to carry it out). Two out of two is 100 percent....which is definitely more than two-thirds. You ignore the third guy who wasn't there and didn't vote. You count only votes.... not people who "could have voted if they had been there". We don't know what else to say to convince them. Well, *I* don't know what else to say. Maybe somebody else does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edgar Guest Posted July 17, 2015 at 09:33 PM Report Share Posted July 17, 2015 at 09:33 PM . . . a vote of 2 to 0 is not a two-thirds vote . . .. Hmm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Brown Posted July 17, 2015 at 09:59 PM Report Share Posted July 17, 2015 at 09:59 PM Hmm.How about quoting the whole sentence instead of cherry picking the first part of it out of context: Guest Gabriel, a vote of 2 to 0 is not a two-thirds vote.... it's a 100 percent vote. 100 percent of those who voted voted yes. Last time I checked, 100 percent is more than two thirds. It's also unanimous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edgar Guest Posted July 17, 2015 at 10:04 PM Report Share Posted July 17, 2015 at 10:04 PM How about quoting the whole sentence instead of cherry picking the first part of it out of context: How about not starting out with a false statement. For example, you might have said, "A vote of 2 to 0 is not just a two-thirds vote, it's a unanimous vote!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Novosielski Posted July 18, 2015 at 06:54 AM Report Share Posted July 18, 2015 at 06:54 AM Oh man, I am hearing that the vote is suppose to be 2 out of 3. There should have been a third person to make the 2/3 vote. Is there something in writing, I can present to them and state, it is ok to vote with two member and still get away with a 2/3 vote. This is required for the item to pass for student government. If there are three members, then two members would presumably constitute a quorum, and they can conduct business as long as no more than one person is absent. If those two people both vote yes on something, it not only satisfies the requirements for a 2/3 vote, it would satisfy a 3/4, 4/5, 9/10, or any larger fraction. In fact, a 2-0 vote is a unanimous vote. You can't do better than that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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