Unanimous Vote

[Guest Question]

In the context of the unanimous voting — does the term unanimous mean the entire board/committee or just those board/committee members in attendance?  If a board/committee member is not in attendance -- must their vote be obtained in order to consider it unanimous?

[J. J.]

A unanimous vote simply means that there is no opposition voiced on the motion, e.g. unanimous consent.  A vote of on in favor, none against and 5,000 abstentions is a unanimous vote. 

Except for unanimous consent, RONR does not really discuss or require unanimous votes. 

You bylaws may define them, if they require them for something.

[Richard Brown]

11 minutes ago, J. J. said:

A vote of on in favor, none against and 5,000 abstentions is a unanimous vote. 

I think JJ meant to say "A vote of ONE in favor, none against. . . ". A vote of 1 to 0 with 5,000 abstentions can be referred to as a unanimous vote.

[Richard Brown]

2 hours ago, Guest Question said:

In the context of the unanimous voting — does the term unanimous mean the entire board/committee or just those board/committee members in attendance?  If a board/committee member is not in attendance -- must their vote be obtained in order to consider it unanimous?

To elaborate on my post immediately above, an abstention is not a vote.  So, by definition, a unanimous vote means that, of those who voted, all were in favor.  A vote is unanimous if no one voted in opposition unless some controlling rule provides otherwise.  For example,  it is my understanding that the United Nations Security Council has a rule in place which imposes a different requirement for some votes to be considered "unanimous".

[J. J.]

5 hours ago, Richard Brown said:

I think JJ meant to say "A vote of ONE in favor, none against. . . ". A vote of 1 to 0 with 5,000 abstentions can be referred to as a unanimous vote.

Yes, I didn't hit the "e" hard enough.