Conflict of Interest

[Guest Chant]

A question was brought up by a board member - When a vote is taken and there is a tie, the president then votes. What happens if the issue/matter is a conflict of interest for the president? Is he/she allowed to vote?

[hmtcastle]

A question was brought up by a board member - When a vote is taken and there is a tie, the president then votes. What happens if the issue/matter is a conflict of interest for the president? Is he/she allowed to vote?

All members have the right to vote. If the president thinks he shouldn't vote on a particular question, then he shouldn't vote.

A tie vote, other than in an election, simply defeats the motion so it's not an issue in itself.

[STA]

Robert suggests only that a member "should refrain from voting" on a matter in which he has an "interest not in common" with other members. Unless your rules more strictly define conflict of interest, each member must decide for himself whether to vote or abstain.

[David A Foulkes]

A question was brought up by a board member - When a vote is taken and there is a tie, the president then votes. What happens if the issue/matter is a conflict of interest for the president? Is he/she allowed to vote?

Assuming this vote would be taken at a Board meeting, and the attendance was about a dozen or fewer, the President can vote right along with everyone, if he wants to, unless rule or custom dictate otherwise. No member is compelled to vote. As noted, if there is a conflict of interest, he should perhaps not vote, but no member can be compelled not to vote either, barring certain "extraordinary circumstance" such as if he is under disciplinary action, for example. In a membership meeting, or larger Board meeting (about 13 or more), the President refrains from voting unless by ballot, or if his vote will affect the result.

Therefore, in a tie without his vote, the President may vote in the affirmative to break the tie and adopt the motion. There's no point in him voting in the negative, as a tie loses on a vote anyway. If the vote is shy of a tie by one negative vote, he may vote in the negative to create a tie to defeat the motion. Again, he is not compelled to, but may, vote.

Elections, as noted, are different, but I suspect you're not in that realm here.

Edited to correct a small error.