Dear Parliamentarian Vol. 104 November '04
Dear Parliamentarian Vol. 104 November '04
Answers to your Parliamentary Questions
drvideo@comcast.net
"Dear Parliamentarian" is written by the author of Parliamentary Procedures Made Simple: The Basics, an 80 minute video that tells how to have better meetings.
Connie Brown wrote:
I ran an election meeting with a written ballot. The outcome of the ballot was a tie. Some of the people that voted left after they voted. Please advise how it should be handled. I wanted to redo the ballot with the people that were there to vote. Some wanted to reconvene the meeting for a different date. Please advise the appropriate procedure since we did adjourn and are redoing this on Tuesday of next week. Also, there was a question about membership. The feeling of the membership chairman (PTA) was that a husband and wife had joined the PTA. The son with the same name as the father came and voted. If the husband comes next week and tries to vote, how should this be handled? Is the original vote nullified and therefore the election is not a tie or is the husband not allowed to vote
Thank you.
Cbrown0729@aol.com
Dear Connie,
When there is a tie a vote the members keep voting until someone is elected. Since this is a new election at your Tuesday evening meeting, everyone who is a member and attends the meeting (even if they were not present at the last meeting) will get to vote. Have everyone sign in who is a member and give them a ballot. If the son comes, and father comes, too, the membership chairman should bring the question to the assembly to decide who can vote if she is in doubt. Are members given membership cards? If so have them present the card which shows who is the member. If the membership committee has the father's name down and the son comes, the son must prove that he is the member and not his father. Only members are allowed to vote. He can not vote for his father. You can't make a decision about the last meeting's election vote because ballots are secret and you don't know which candidate he voted for. You can declare the election null and void if you like but you still have to take another vote. At this meeting Tuesday evening, keep voting until someone is elected. If people leave after they vote, then that is too bad. As long as you have a quorum present keep voting until someone is elected.
Registered Parliamentarian
Copyright 1998 Robert McConnell Productions, all rights reserved.