[Businessmtg] Counting Votes at ASP

[Steve Rankin]

Hi ASPers,

 

It may seem crazy, but there are several ways to count votes. Most of the
difference revolve around how you count abstentions and those that are
registered to vote, but didn't cast a ballot. 

 

Why the differences? Motives are the prime mover behind the differences. 

 

In politics, the motive it to pass legislation. If you simply don't count
the abstentions & missing ballots, you need fewer "yes" votes to pass
legislation. Obviously, politicians love this so this is very popular.

 

On the other hand, this is Al-Anon and we have a very different goal here.
Or at least we are supposed to!

 

Our goal is to reach a INFORMED group conscience with SUBSTANTIAL UNANIMITY.


 

Our goal is to have everyone on board with the group conscience.  Generally,
we do a pretty good job of this. If you look at our group consciences at
http://asp-afg.org/members/motions-made/ you'll see that over one-third of
the group consciences were reached with total unanimity. Another 3 passed
with only one dissenter. Over half of the time, we are successful reaching
true substantial unanimity.  ASP requires a minimum of a 2/3's majority of
the voting membership to pass a motion. Remember that the goal is 100%, the
2/3 is merely a bare minimum.

 

But how to draw the line?

 

Consider this scenario . . .

 

The group is discussing the subject of Unicorns in Al-Anon. There are 30
members in the meeting and opinions are all over the map. It may or may not
be clear that there is a consensus, so the Chair shifts the meeting from
KBDM to 
Roberts Rules and it goes to a vote.

 

Unicorns in Al-Anon:

For:                    21

Against:             6

Abstain:             2

Didn't vote:      1

 

In this example, it is clear that over 2/3's voted for Unicorns in Al-Anon,
so the motion passes.

 

But, let's look at same scenario but with different results at the ballot .
. .

 

Unicorns in Al-Anon:

For:                    6

Against:             3

Abstain:             10

Didn't vote:      11

 

While the votes for Unicorns in Al-Anon was twice the number of votes
against (good enough for politics) the number of votes for Unicorns in
Al-Anon was only a minority of the group and CLEARLY DOES NOT REPRESENT THE
GROUP.  Maybe those members that didn't vote didn't feel fully informed.
That's OK. 

 

What is important to understand is that they did not vote FOR the motion. 

 

ASP solved this dilemma by requiring a 2/3 majority of the voting
membership. 

 

It's really simple and follows the principles of Al-Anon so much better than
the political model. 

 

In order for a motion to pass, at least 2/3 of the membership eligible to
vote must vote FOR the motion. 

 

Anything less than that is simply less than Al-Anon substantial unanimity. 

 

Hugs,

Steve