of abstentions on outcome
September 25, 2006
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Joseph Gillis Jr.
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After the Bridgewater Selectmen's Meeting last Wedensday (9/20/06), and the 3-2 vote on requesting a ballot question, a number of people have asked me about the vote. Beyond the obvious questions about next steps, there were questions about if a member should have abstained from voting. Some thought that an abstain would have the effect of a "no". Reading the two examples below states that this is only the case in very specific wording around a two-thirds vote.
Answers to questions submitted to Cagle's Parliamentary Procedure webpage
http://www.csufresno.edu/comm/ppqa5.htm
Question: I know that abstentions are not usually counted when determining what constitutes a majority. However, our constitution says that to overturn certain decisions requires a "two-thirds vote of the members present and voting."
Answer: "Two-thirds vote of the members present and voting" has a clear meaning: If there are thirty members voting and the vote is 4-2 (with everyone else abstaining), then the motion passes. "Two-thirds vote of the members present" would require 20 affirmative votes for the motion to pass.
Robert Rules
http://www.robertsrules.com/faq.html
Question:Do abstention votes count?
Answer: The phrase "abstention votes" is an oxymoron, an abstention being a refusal to vote. To abstain means to refrain from voting, and, as a consequence, there can be no such thing as an "abstention vote."
In the usual situation, where either a majority vote or a two-thirds vote is required, abstentions have absolutely no effect on the outcome of the vote since what is required is either a majority or two thirds of the votes cast. On the other hand, if the vote required is a majority or two thirds of the members present, or a majority or two thirds of the entire membership, an abstention will have the same effect as a "no" vote. Even in such a case, however, an abstention is not a vote. [RONR (10th ed.), p. 387, l. 7-13; p. 388, l. 3-6; p. 390, l. 13-24; see also p.66 of RONR In Brief.]
So, from reading these two interpretations of "two-thirds vote", it seems clear that with five votes a 3-2 (3 affirmative, 2 negative) does not meet the threshold for the question/issue to pass. However, a 3-1-1 vote (3 affirmative, 1 negative, 1 abstain), the "two-thirds vote" is achieved.
