Voting for mutiple positions - what is a mjority in this specific situation?

[Guest KennyMSQ]

This is what happened at our HOA election meeting.  Three spots on the board are open with three nominated.  The bylaws require a ballot vote.  There were 40 eligable voters (voting live + proxies, which the bylaws allow) and 40 ballots were turned in.  Most of the ballots had 3 votes (either for someone nominated or a write in).  A few only had 2 votes, not 3.  How do we determine what a "majority" is for this situation?

[Bruce Lages]

Are these three identical board positions? If they are, then a majority will be based on the total number of ballots that indicate a choice for at least one position (in other words if there are any blank ballots they are not counted in determining the basis for a majority). If every ballot did indicate at least one choice then a majority will be calculated as more than half of 40, or 21 votes. Each candidate that received 21 or more votes is elected, while any candidate that received less than 21 votes is not. So if three candidates received 21 or more votes, your election is completed. If less than three received 21 or more votes you will need to conduct a second round of balloting to fill these remaining positions. If the rules in RONR apply, nominations should be re-opened and, as in the first round, a space for write-in votes should be allowed. But since this is an HOA, it is quite likely that you may have your own specialized rules as to how elections are conducted.

[Gary Novosielski]

On 10/6/2023 at 4:56 PM, Guest KennyMSQ said:

This is what happened at our HOA election meeting.  Three spots on the board are open with three nominated.  The bylaws require a ballot vote.  There were 40 eligable voters (voting live + proxies, which the bylaws allow) and 40 ballots were turned in.  Most of the ballots had 3 votes (either for someone nominated or a write in).  A few only had 2 votes, not 3.  How do we determine what a "majority" is for this situation?

There were 40 ballots cast, unless some of them were blank or marked Abstain, or otherwise indicated no preference for any candidate, which would subtract from that number.  A ballot with one or more votes for the multi-seat position is counted as one ballot cast.

So if the count is 40, then any candidate requires 21 votes for election.

Edited October 6, 2023 at 11:55 PM by Gary Novosielski
typos

[Guest KennyMSQ]

Yes they are identical positions, per the bylaws, "Board members".  Board officers are elected later by vote of the new Board themselves, again per the bylaws.  Thanks!