Managing Voters at an AGM

[Guest Bruno]

I have been going to an AGM where the registration is at 6PM and the meeting is called to order at 7PM --- after 7 PM any voting member who shows up is not given their voting card and must sign in as a guest. Their By-Laws do not cover the situation, ie, if a member shows up after call to order, but it has been a long standing practice, presumably because it changes what is needed for a simple majority and 2/3rds majority and they don't want to have to manage it if they don't give out more voting cards after the call to order. Do Roberts Rules cover this? Its this a correct protocol? Thanks for the help in advance.

 

B.

[Hieu H. Huynh]

Any voting member present has the right to vote.

[Weldon Merritt]

Any voting member present has the right to vote.

 

Yes, and denial of that right will render any action taken null and void if the vote of those members could have made a difference. (In other words, if the difference between the affirmative and negative votes was less than the number of members who were denied the right to vote.) This "long standing practice" needs to stop immediately.

[Guest Bruno]

so every time a 'new' member shows up the meeting should be stopped to declare what the simple majority and 2/3rds majority are? Or just the Chair has to be advised?

 

Thanks for the quick replies!

 

B.

[Josh Martin]

so every time a 'new' member shows up the meeting should be stopped to declare what the simple majority and 2/3rds majority are? Or just the Chair has to be advised?

A majority vote and a 2/3 vote are ordinarily based on the number of members voting on a particular question. Do your rules provide that they are based on the number of members present? Even if they do, I see no reason to stop the meeting.

[Curiosulus]

Mr. Martin is (as usual) absolutely right — "majority" and "two-thirds" are against the number of votes cast, not the number of members present, unless your peculiar rules say otherwise. No need to make a hullabaloo over members coming and going (so long as they are decorous about it!)

[CuriousGeorge]

So the way we would know is that when the vote is called, if 10 people vote in the affirmative, and 0 vote against, then whether it was majority or 2/3rds, the affirmative has it?? 

 

i'm just not clear on how you would know what your majority or 2/3rds numbers are if your letting people come and go as they please.

 

thanks again so much.

[Dan Honemann]

So the way we would know is that when the vote is called, if 10 people vote in the affirmative, and 0 vote against, then whether it was majority or 2/3rds, the affirmative has it?? 

 

Yes, assuming the vote required for adoption is either a majority or two-thirds of the votes cast, which is the general rule.

 

i'm just not clear on how you would know what your majority or 2/3rds numbers are if your letting people come and go as they please.

 

What difference would it make if people come and go when the vote required for adoption is either a majority or two-thirds of the votes cast?

 

If the vote required for adoption is either a majority or two-thirds of the members present, the chair must count those present immediately after the affirmative vote is taken, before any change can take place in the number of members present.

[Steven Britton]

so every time a 'new' member shows up the meeting should be stopped ....?

 

B.

No, but the registration process should be arranged so that no member - who arrives late - is denied his/her fundamental right to vote at the meeting.

[Gary Novosielski]

So the way we would know is that when the vote is called, if 10 people vote in the affirmative, and 0 vote against, then whether it was majority or 2/3rds, the affirmative has it?? 

 

i'm just not clear on how you would know what your majority or 2/3rds numbers are if your letting people come and go as they please.

 

thanks again so much.

 

It's quite simple:  A majority vote is one where there are more Yes votes than No votes.

A two-thirds vote is a vote where there at least twice as many Yes votes as No votes.

 

As long as a quorum is present, it makes no difference how many people come and go, or how many people choose not to vote (abstain)  The number of people present or abstaining has no effect on what constitutes a majority or 2/3.  

 

Only the number of Yes and No votes actually cast affects the outcome.