Definition of Majority

[Larry]

If 12 of 15 board members are present at a meeting and vote on a motion, does it pass as a “majority” if 6 vote in favor, 4 against, and 2 abstained?

[jstackpo]

Yes, provided your bylaws do NOT include a definition of "majority" that departs from the RONR standard of "more than half the votes cast" (abstentions ignored).

I am presuming that "12 present" meets your quorum requirement, and that RONR is your adopted parliamentary authority.

[Guest Who's Coming to Dinner]

Six is a majority ("more than half") of 10 votes cast. Does the  motion pass? It depends what you are voting on.

[Richard Brown]

4 hours ago, Larry said:

If 12 of 15 board members are present at a meeting and vote on a motion, does it pass as a “majority” if 6 vote in favor, 4 against, and 2 abstained?

 A majority is more than half. it is not 51% or 50% plus one. It means simply "more than half" . A majority vote is more than half of the votes cast, ignoring abstentions and the blanks. A motion is adopted and a person is elected to office if it receives more than half of the votes cast unless your bylaws or some other rule provides for a different threshold, such as a two-thirds vote or the vote of a majority of the members present or a vote of a majority of the entire membership. 

Assuming a quorum was present, a vote of 6 to 4 is absolutely a majority vote. You ignore absent members as well as abstentions and blank ballots if it is a ballot vote. BTW, an abstention is not a vote. To the contrary it is a refusal to vote.

Edited to add:  For more information, you might review Frequently Asked  Questions # 4, 5 and 6 on the main page of the forum:  http://www.robertsrules.com/faq.html#4

For still more information, see pages 400-407 in RONR re "Bases for Determining a Voting Result".

Also, fwiw, it is not usually necessary to do complicated math in determining whether a majority vote has been achieved.  A majority vote on a motion means simply that the motion received more "Yes" votes than "No" votes.  No need to do complicated math (except, possibly, in those cases where the vote of a majority of the members present or the vote of a majority of the entire membership is necessary).

Edited November 28, 2018 at 05:13 PM by Richard Brown
Added last three paragraphs

[Richard Brown]

3 hours ago, Larry said:

If 12 of 15 board members are present at a meeting and vote on a motion, does it pass as a “majority” if 6 vote in favor, 4 against, and 2 abstained?

Larry, supplementing my post immediately above, I want to clarify something. If your bylaws require the vote of a majority of the members present or a majority of the entire membership, the word "membership"  in that sense refers to the membership of the body which is voting. That may or may not be the general membership. If your bylaws require the vote of a majority of the entire board in order to pass a motion, and you have a 15 member board, then, in that case, it would require 8 yes votes in order for the board to adopt something.

However, unless your bylaws clearly specify something different, a majority vote is a majority of the votes cast, ignoring blanks and abstentions. It would normally mean simply more yes votes than no votes, regardless of abstentions, blanks, and absences.