Board election

[Guest R Harper]

Once a year we the membership vote on 4 or 5 board members. This year it was 4.

The board members elect the President, Vice President, Sec. and Tres.

There are a total of 9 board members.

This Year up for re-election was the board member who happened to be the President.

On the vote for the new President by the 5 old and 4 newly elected board the vote was 4 votes for Mr. A and 4 votes for MR. B with one abstained (who was not the board member that was the President).

So now we have a tie. The President already voted when it was a 4-4 tie.

Does the President get to vote again to break the tie? (Does he get 2 votes?)

What is the proper way to break this tie?

How should this have been handled?

[Rob Elsman]

Once a year we the membership vote on 4 or 5 board members. This year it was 4.

The board members elect the President, Vice President, Sec. and Tres.

There are a total of 9 board members.

This Year up for re-election was the board member who happened to be the President.

On the vote for the new President by the 5 old and 4 newly elected board the vote was 4 votes for Mr. A and 4 votes for MR. B with one abstained (who was not the board member that was the President).

So now we have a tie. The President already voted when it was a 4-4 tie.

Does the President get to vote again to break the tie? (Does he get 2 votes?)

What is the proper way to break this tie?

How should this have been handled?

No. RONR (10th ed.), p. 393, ll. 15, 16. The election is incomplete, since neither person received a majority vote. The vote should be repeated (again and again, if necessary) until someone gets a majority vote to win.

[Trina]

....

Does the President get to vote again to break the tie? (Does he get 2 votes?)

What is the proper way to break this tie?

How should this have been handled?

No. RONR (10th ed.), p. 393, ll. 15, 16. The election is incomplete, since neither person received a majority vote. The vote should be repeated (again and again, if necessary) until someone gets a majority vote to win.

Since most of R Harper's question is framed in the past tense (particularly that last sentence), I fear that the double vote by the President has already happened. However, since this appears to be an election in which the outcome was influenced by an illegal vote (the second vote cast by the President), I believe a point of order could be raised at a future meeting, and the election found null and void. (RONR p. 244(d), p. 402 l. 30 - p. 403 l. 2). The latter citation starts with the example of a ballot vote gone wrong (which is admittedly a somewhat different situation than that presented in the original post); however, the explanation of the underlying principle seems to apply equally in this situation.

After clearing away the mess, proceed to do it correctly by following Mr. Elsman's advice.