Quorum/Voting

[Guest Trina]

The usual standard for adopting motions is by majority vote. That means a majority (more than half) of the people who actually vote. Abstentions don't count. And, 51% is NOT the same thing as 'more than half'. For example, a majority out of 200 votes cast"

[Guest Scott]

Thanks Trina, I knew we were on track with what we currently are doing. I just needed to confirm it. As for the fraction question, can you shed some light on that? We just adopted these bylaws and have had that issue yet, but I want to be ready if it d"

[Guest H.Wm.Mountcastle]

I think what Trina was suggesting is that, if the quorum calculation results in a fraction, you need to round up, not down.

You might also want to amend your bylaws to change "51%" to "a majority". The numbers will probably co"

[Guest Scott]

The Board has encouraged "a majority" wording from the beginning of this revision process, but the members have been firm on their desire to have an actual number for everything. We've had a rocky series of Presidents and they want to avoid tho"

[Guest Trina]

'Majority' is the common usage, and is well understood in parliamentary procedure. If you were to set quorum to a majority of the entire membership (or members in good standing, assuming you have defined somewhere what 'good standing' means), then that's "

[Guest H.Wm.Mountcastle]

>>do you round up or down? Your bylaws would have to specify that additional detail.<<

Well, the assumption is that the quorum requirement is a MINIMUM so rounding down would result in a number below the minimum. Hence rounding up is "

[Guest Scott]

Thanks so much, all this really helps. So in our case we have 22 members in good standing eligible to vote. In order to have quorum, we need 13 members present, if we vote on an item we need 8.5(9 round up)of those 13 in order to pass/fail."

[Guest Chris H]

Nope to both. 51% of 22 is 11.22 which rounded up is 12. A majority vote is of those who actually voted. It is possible that some of the 13 might abstain. Also a majority of 13 is 7."

[Guest Scott]

Chris:

This just confused me LOL. We have 22 members, but normally not all of them show up. So what would the quroum be in order to do business and what would our voting numbers have to be in order to pass/fail items?"

[Guest H.Wm.Mountcastle]

You need at least 51% of the membership to show up. 22 X .51 = 11.22 = 12.

You need a majority vote to adopt most motions. With at least 12 members present, a vote of 1-0 (with all other members abstaining) would do it. Or 3-2. Or 8-4.

I"

[Guest Chris H]

You said your quorum is 51% of members in good standing. If there are 22 members, you would need 12 members to show up to have a quorum.

Provided you have a quorum a motion is passed by a majority of those who voted. So in theory a motion cou"

[Guest Scott]

Eureka! It clicks, whew got it now. I was doing the math on paper and it makes sense. I just knew this 51% thing was going to kick our butts."

[Guest H.Wm.Mountcastle]

The disadvantage of a percentage quorum, even "a majority", as opposed to a fixed number, is that you'll always need an accurate count of the membership. So the president (and secretary) should go into each meeting knowing exactly how many membe"

[Guest H.Wm.Mountcastle]

And "(if they do)" should be "(if it does)"."

[Guest Trina]

> the assumption is that the quorum requirement is a MINIMUM so rounding down would result in a number below the minimum. Hence rounding up is the only reasonable option. <

Yeah, that makes sense."