Chairperson vote

[Guest Martha]

We had 4 people at a meeting. 2 voted yay and one voted nay. The chairperson then voted nay as well.  This resulted in a tie.  The chairperson previously has never voted during these meetings.  Does the motion carry or do we leave it as a tie? She did not ask for discussion on the topic.  How do we move forward?

[George Mervosh]

On 2/27/2024 at 10:45 AM, Guest Martha said:

We had 4 people at a meeting. 2 voted yay and one voted nay. The chairperson then voted nay as well.  This resulted in a tie.  The chairperson previously has never voted during these meetings.  Does the motion carry or do we leave it as a tie? She did not ask for discussion on the topic.  How do we move forward?

If the chair is a member they have every right to vote, and in small assemblies they should vote every time if they so choose,  A tie vote defeats the motion.  It can be made again at any new session.  If it was a main motion, the chair should have certainly opened the floor to debate it, but it's too late now in this case to worry about it.

[Joshua Katz]

Well I don't know why she didn't ask for discussion, but it's too late to object to that now. On whethr the chairperson may vote, the rule in RONR is that, in a small board or committee, the chair if a member may vote along with everyone else. But perhaps this is not a board or committee, or if it is, it sounds like you haven't been following the small board rules. In any case, even in an ordinary assembly, the chair, if a member, may vote when it would change the outcome. Here, it would change the outcome. So the only question is whether the chairperson is a member of the body that is meeting. It seems very likely to me that she is. Is there any reason to think not? That she didn't vote in the past doesn't matter, as perhaps she didn't see the need to.

[Gary Novosielski]

On 2/27/2024 at 10:45 AM, Guest Martha said:

We had 4 people at a meeting. 2 voted yay and one voted nay. The chairperson then voted nay as well.  This resulted in a tie.  The chairperson previously has never voted during these meetings.  Does the motion carry or do we leave it as a tie? She did not ask for discussion on the topic.  How do we move forward?

You don't "leave it as a tie," you consider it as defeated, since it did not achieve a majority.  You move forward just as you would if everyone had voted No.

Edited to add:

Even in cases where the president does not typically vote (and a board of four people is usually not an example of that) the chair is free to vote in any situation where that one vote could change the outcome.  In the case of a 2-1 vote, the chair may decide to let that vote stand, adopting the motion, or may decide to vote No, creating a tie, and defeating the motion. 

Edited February 28, 2024 at 04:00 AM by Gary Novosielski