Jump to content
The Official RONR Q & A Forums

Second Round of Elections due to lack of majority


flipper92

Recommended Posts

We are to elect 3 members at large. 6 candidates are running. Our bylaws require that all positions must be won by a majority of votes cast. Because there are three positions, each member may cast three votes. Let's say 1 of the 6 achieves a majority in the first round of voting: do we have another roun with all 5 who did not make the threshold, or is the lowest vote-getter eliminated? Is the answer different if 2 of the six achieves majority the first time through? There is a clause in our bylaws that states that if no one receives a majority, then the top two candidates go to a second round, but that presumes three or more people vying for a single position instead of three slots, which is what we have here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

33 minutes ago, flipper92 said:

Let's say 1 of the 6 achieves a majority in the first round of voting: do we have another roun with all 5 who did not make the threshold, or is the lowest vote-getter eliminated? Is the answer different if 2 of the six achieves majority the first time through?

According to RONR, you have a second round with all 5 (and it would be in order to reopen nominations).  The answer is not different if 2 achieve a majority; you have a second round with all 4.  

34 minutes ago, flipper92 said:

There is a clause in our bylaws that states that if no one receives a majority, then the top two candidates go to a second round, but that presumes three or more people vying for a single position instead of three slots, which is what we have here.

I am not going to interpret this bylaw out of context.  I wouldn't do so in context either, since we don't do that here.  If your rules differ from RONR, your organization will need to interpret them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On Friday, May 26, 2017 at 9:29 PM, flipper92 said:

We are to elect 3 members at large. 6 candidates are running. Our bylaws require that all positions must be won by a majority of votes cast. Because there are three positions, each member may cast three votes. Let's say 1 of the 6 achieves a majority in the first round of voting: do we have another roun with all 5 who did not make the threshold, or is the lowest vote-getter eliminated? Is the answer different if 2 of the six achieves majority the first time through? There is a clause in our bylaws that states that if no one receives a majority, then the top two candidates go to a second round, but that presumes three or more people vying for a single position instead of three slots, which is what we have here.

It seems to me that if each member voted for three candidates, then it seems unlikely that only one candidate would achieve a majority of the votes cast.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, g40 said:

It seems to me that if each member voted for three candidates, then it seems unlikely that only one candidate would achieve a majority of the votes cast.

That may be. I will leave it to the mathematicians to determine the possibilities. That is above my pay grade.  However, members do have the right to abstain, so such an outcome is quite possible.

Dan Seabold , where are you when we need you? :wacko:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/26/2017 at 9:29 PM, flipper92 said:

 There is a clause in our bylaws that states that if no one receives a majority, then the top two candidates go to a second round, but that presumes three or more people vying for a single position instead of three slots, which is what we have here.

If this clause is the bylaws, it would have to be obeyed, despite it being unusual and possibly unworkable.    I really that, for this, you should contact a parliamentarian to look at your bylaws. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/28/2017 at 11:18 AM, Richard Brown said:

That may be. I will leave it to the mathematicians to determine the possibilities.

Assuming that all votes on a ballot must be different and the OP meant a majority of all votes cast and not all ballots cast than a person can still win a majority if the total number of votes is less than 2/3 of all possible votes i.e. the average number of votes per ballot is less than 2.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...