Change vote

[Guest Terri H]

Once a vote has been submitted during a meeting, is it permissible for someone to change their vote after further thought/review?

We recently were thrown a vote request and asked to vote during the meeting, but were not allowed any time to truly think through potential issues.  Upon further review, I would like to change my vote in the matter.  The action has not been acted upon yet as 2 more members were not present and need to vote.

[Rob Elsman]

If I understand correctly, it is too late for the two absentees to cast a vote.  It is also too late for a member to change the vote that he cast.  I suspect that the motion you are looking for is Rescind.  See RONR (12th ed.) §35.

[Gary Novosielski]

On 8/3/2023 at 6:26 PM, Guest Terri H said:

Once a vote has been submitted during a meeting, is it permissible for someone to change their vote after further thought/review?

We recently were thrown a vote request and asked to vote during the meeting, but were not allowed any time to truly think through potential issues.  Upon further review, I would like to change my vote in the matter.  The action has not been acted upon yet as 2 more members were not present and need to vote.

No, it would have to be done immediately at the time the results were being announced. 

And there is no rule in RONR that permits holding off action because two members were not present.  It's too late for them to vote.

[puzzling]

On 8/3/2023 at 11:26 PM, Guest Terri H said:

Once a vote has been submitted during a meeting, is it permissible for someone to change their vote after further thought/review?

We recently were thrown a vote request and asked to vote during the meeting, but were not allowed any time to truly think through potential issues.  Upon further review, I would like to change my vote in the matter.  The action has not been acted upon yet as 2 more members were not present and need to vote.

Who didn't allow to think through potential issues?

The meeting can decide to take whatever time it needs, the meeting  should not let itself be bullied that way. 

There are many ways to prevent this bullying but they need a majority or sometimes 2/3 vote of the meeting to pass.

[J. J.]

On 8/3/2023 at 6:26 PM, Guest Terri H said:

Once a vote has been submitted during a meeting, is it permissible for someone to change their vote after further thought/review?

We recently were thrown a vote request and asked to vote during the meeting, but were not allowed any time to truly think through potential issues.  Upon further review, I would like to change my vote in the matter.  The action has not been acted upon yet as 2 more members were not present and need to vote.

If this was an in person meeting, absent people cannot vote, unless the bylaws permit absentee voting.

If the vote was taken at a meeting, it would be likely that the action could be rescinded at your next meeting (35.1 ff.).

[Atul Kapur]

On 8/3/2023 at 6:26 PM, Guest Terri H said:

We recently were thrown a vote request and asked to vote during the meeting ....

... 2 more members were not present and need to vote.

This suggests that your voting system is disconnected from the meeting itself. This is very different than from the assumptions that underlie RONR's rules on voting ("it is a fundamental principle of parliamentary law that the right to vote is limited to the members of an organization who are actually present at the time the vote is taken in a regular or properly called meeting" 25:9 and 45:56). So the applicability of RONR's rules on changing a vote will not necessarily apply to your organization and it should probably make explicit what the rules are, including any necessary or desired adaptation of the RONR rules.

That being said, RONR says this about Changing One's Vote, in 45:8

Quote

Except when the vote has been taken by ballot (or some other method that provides secrecy), a member has a right to change his vote up to the time the result is announced but afterward can make the change only by the unanimous consent of the assembly requested and granted, without debate, immediately following the chair’s announcement of the result of the vote (see below).

It sounds like your polls have not yet closed (that is, people who have not voted are still able to do so) and the result has not been announced, so this could be a good argument to say that you can still change your vote.

 

Or, I could be misinterpreting the whole thing.

[Gary Novosielski]

It seemed to me that the vote was held at the meeting, and the two who did not vote could not vote because they were not at the meeting.  There's no mention of another polling place.

Will Teri H please clarify?