Guest Ellece O'Hara Posted August 12, 2019 at 03:46 PM Report Share Posted August 12, 2019 at 03:46 PM Can a board member abstain on voting for approval of minutes of a meeting they attended? How would this be handled? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Brown Posted August 12, 2019 at 03:49 PM Report Share Posted August 12, 2019 at 03:49 PM Yes. To abstain, you just don't vote or you say "I abstain". No reason need be given. Per RONR, every member has the right to abstain Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jstackpo Posted August 12, 2019 at 03:51 PM Report Share Posted August 12, 2019 at 03:51 PM Yes, but properly there is no vote on "approving minutes" -- see page 355. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Martin Posted August 12, 2019 at 04:46 PM Report Share Posted August 12, 2019 at 04:46 PM 59 minutes ago, Guest Ellece O'Hara said: Can a board member abstain on voting for approval of minutes of a meeting they attended? How would this be handled? It should first be noted that there is no final vote on the approval of the minutes. The chair asks for any corrections. Such corrections are generally handled by unanimous consent, but if there is disagreement, a majority vote is sufficient. The member could abstain from that vote. Generally, a member abstains by doing nothing - in a voice vote, he remains silent, in a show of hand vote, he keeps his hands down. After any corrections are handled, the chair simply declares the minutes approved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Brown Posted August 12, 2019 at 05:09 PM Report Share Posted August 12, 2019 at 05:09 PM 22 minutes ago, Josh Martin said: It should first be noted that there is no final vote on the approval of the minutes. Yes, I should have pointed that out in my initial response! I appreciate Dr. Stackpole and Josh Martin pointing it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Novosielski Posted August 12, 2019 at 07:08 PM Report Share Posted August 12, 2019 at 07:08 PM (edited) 3 hours ago, Guest Ellece O'Hara said: Can a board member abstain on voting for approval of minutes of a meeting they attended? How would this be handled? There really should not be any voting on final approval of minutes, because approved minutes are required by the rules, so that it's not possible to abstain. The only way to object to approval of the minutes is to offer a correction, essentially an amendment to the language, rectifying your objection. If there is disagreement on the correction, a majority vote decides, and a member can certainly abstain on such a vote. But when there are no (further) corrections forthcoming, the chair simply announces that the minutes stand approved. The chair can add "...as read; ...as printed; ...as corrected", if desired. And it should be noted that whether the member attended the meeting in question has no bearing on whether the member may offer or vote on a correction. A member can neither be compelled to abstain nor prevented from doing so. Edited August 12, 2019 at 07:14 PM by Gary Novosielski Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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