Election of officers and invalid votes

[Drake Savory]

I seem to remember that in RONR invalid votes are counted towards determining a majority when voting for officers.  So let's say A is running against B and no write-in votes are permitted.

A receives 10 votes, B receives 8 votes and C receives 4 write-in (invalid) votes.  A is not elected since they did not receive a majority of the 22 votes.  Am I imagining that rule or is it in RONR?

[Guest Zev]

Quote

If one or more ballots are identifiable as cast by persons not entitled to vote, these ballots are excluded in determining the number of votes cast for purposes of computing the majority. If there is evidence that any unidentifiable ballots were cast by persons not entitled to vote, and if there is any possibility that such ballots might affect the result, the entire ballot vote is null and void, and a new ballot vote must be taken.

RONR 11th edition page 416. My emphasis.

[Atul Kapur]

But I do not see anywhere in the OP that the ballots were cast by people ineligible to vote.

 

I don't have the book in front of me to quote  the section related to people voting for candidates who are ineligible for the office.

[Tom Coronite]

Illegal votes (unintelligible ballots, ballots cast for an unidentifiable or ineligible candidate) are counted as votes cast, but not credited to any candidate or choice. (cf p 416, lines 2-5)

maybe that's what Drake Savory has in mind?

Edited April 24, 2019 at 07:17 PM by Tom Coronite

[Drake Savory]

YES!!!!!!

So in my scenario is it true that A did not win as he did not get a majority of votes cast?

[George Mervosh]

Why are write-in votes invalid? Do the bylaws say so?  Either way 22 votes were still cast and 10 for candidate A doesn't cut it.

Edited April 24, 2019 at 08:24 PM by George Mervosh

[Gary Novosielski]

3 hours ago, Guest Zev said:

RONR 11th edition page 416. My emphasis.

The question was not about people ineligible to vote, but about voters who cast votes for people ineligible to receive votes.  In this case I believe the ballots would be included in the total, and would affect the number needed to elect.

[Gary Novosielski]

2 hours ago, Drake Savory said:

YES!!!!!!

So in my scenario is it true that A did not win as he did not get a majority of votes cast?

Maybe.

Is this a hypothetical, or did this actually occur?  If it did, what did the chair announce as the result of the election, and was any point of order raised at the time? 

I don't believe the fact that write-ins were not allowed would affect the result, however (though I still wonder what would prohibit them).  Whether the four votes were invalid or were counted as valid votes for one or more other candidates, the number required to elect would still be 12.

[Guest Zev]

2 hours ago, Gary Novosielski said:

The question was not about people ineligible to vote, but about voters who cast votes for people ineligible to receive votes.

Yeah, I messed up again. My bad.