President/Chair voting to cause a motion to prevail

[Guest Bibiana]

A member of our HOA board is quoting that "On a vote that is not by ballot, if a majority is required and there is a tie, the chair may vote in the affirmative to cause the motion to prevail." There are 4 board members, and it's 2 vs 2, a tie and the president/chair has already voted. The member is stating that the president/chair can exercise her right under Robert's rules to break the tie and allow the motion to pass. However, my interpretation of Robert's Rules is that the president/chair can only break a tie (or cause a tie) if he/she did not vote, meaning he/she cannot vote twice. If he/she already voted, and there is a tie, then the motion is defeated. Can you pls confirm that the chair cannot cause a motion to prevail in the case of a tie when he/she has already voted? Thank you.

[Rob Elsman]

It is a fundamental principle of parliamentary law that each member has one, and only one, vote. If the presiding officer has already voted—which is quite proper in a small board—he may not vote a second time to break the tie, and the motion is rejected.

Edited December 15, 2019 at 05:46 PM by Rob Elsman

[Guest Guest Bibiana]

Thank you very much. Though the first question in the FAQ at https://www.robertsrules.com/faq.html is "Is it true that the president can vote only to break a tie?"  the answer can be made clearer by stating that a second vote cannot be taken, basically adding your reply above, as it is being used by some incorrectly. I can't say when reading the FAQ answer that it was easy to understand. Thank you very much for this reply.

[Atul Kapur]

If you are looking for absolute clarity, "The chair cannot vote twice, once as a member then again in his capacity as presiding officer." (RONR 11th ed., p. 406, lines 14-15).

[Dan Honemann]

2 hours ago, Guest Guest Bibiana said:

Thank you very much. Though the first question in the FAQ at https://www.robertsrules.com/faq.html is "Is it true that the president can vote only to break a tie?"  the answer can be made clearer by stating that a second vote cannot be taken, basically adding your reply above, as it is being used by some incorrectly. I can't say when reading the FAQ answer that it was easy to understand. Thank you very much for this reply.

There is absolutely nothing in FAQ#1 which even hints at the notion that the chair has a right to vote more than once. As a matter of fact, it very clearly states that "If the president is a member of the voting body, he or she has exactly the same rights and privileges as all other members have ...." How many times can other members vote?

The Q&A is obviously designed to debunk the erroneous notion (as expressed in the question asked) that a presiding officer has no right to vote at all, not even once, unless there is a tie. To interpret a negative answer to this question as meaning that he or she can vote not just once but more than once requires some sort of mental disorder. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Richard Brown]

Guest Bibiana, it might also be pertinent that under the "Small Board Rules" in RONR, in boards of less than about a dozen members, the president perticipates just like other members and also votes along with the other members.  He is not limited to voting only when his vote will affect the outcome as in larger bodies.

[J. J.]

The only exception would be you bylaws give the president the ability to cast a second vote in the case of a tie.