bylaws, ballots and voting rules

[Guest richard borys]

Bylaw: Election of officers shall be by written ballot and by a majority vote of those those present and voting. A blanket ballot is prohibited.

Question: If only one person is running for the office can the rules be suspended by a motion and a unanimous vote be cast for him?

Question: If not and a paper ballot has to be done and this one person does not get the majority vote of those present. What do you do?

[Rob Elsman]

Bylaw: Election of officers shall be by written ballot and by a majority vote of those those present and voting. A blanket ballot is prohibited.

Question: If only one person is running for the office can the rules be suspended by a motion and a unanimous vote be cast for him? No.

Question: If not and a paper ballot has to be done and this one person does not get the majority vote of those present. What do you do? Repeat rounds of voting as many times as necessary for someone to win who does not decline the office.

[hmtcastle]

Question: If only one person is running for the office can the rules be suspended by a motion and a unanimous vote be cast for him?

No.

Question: If not and a paper ballot has to be done and this one person does not get the majority vote of those present. What do you do?

Keep voting until someone is elected. Though it seems unlikely, though not impossible, that the sole nominee won't be elected on the first ballot.

[jstackpo]

Richard:

You wrote, at the end of your question:

"one person does not get the majority vote of those present."

but your quoted bylaws say: "majority vote of those those present and voting."

The "and voting" makes a big difference.

No matter how many members are in the room ("present") it is a majority of the votes CAST that determines the winner.

1 to 0 will be enough.

[hmtcastle]

You wrote, at the end of your question:

"one person does not get the majority vote of those present."

but your quoted bylaws say: "majority vote of those those present and voting."

The "and voting" makes a big difference.

Good catch.

[Trina]

....a paper ballot has to be done and this one person does not get the majority vote of those present [and voting, as per the quoted bylaw]. What do you do?

Also, keep in mind that it is not proper to vote 'no' in an election -- the only way the single candidate wouldn't get a majority of the votes cast is if the voters voted for other people (write-in votes) in sufficient numbers.