A thread to discuss naming threads, board policy, new thread suggestions, and anything else that has to do with board administration and maintenance. Guaranteed to include lively debate and polls. Natter discouraged, but not deleted.
Current Stompy Feet: ita, Jon B, DXMachina, P.M. Marcontell, Liese S., amych
Okay, this is either a really stupid question or a big deal or both.
Are we counting abstentions by people who otherwise voted? We aren't counting Buffistas who are not part of the electorate, but if someone abstains from voting for one of the propositions, do we eliminate their vote or count it as a third option.
100 people (let's not even make them Buffistas, because of the quorum issue) vote on a proposition.
50 - yes
25 - no
25 - abstain
Is the result:
50 (50%) - yes
25 (25%) - no
25 (25%) - abstain
or
50 (66%) - yes
25 (33%) - no
(Gosh I hope that makes sense.)
It makes sense to me.
And I think it should be counted as a third option. Like the difference between "I don't want to vote for either of these Presidential candidates" and "I couldn't be arsed to leave the house and vote today" some countries let you register.
Ditto everything amych & other said. Big thanks.
I'm still reading ... suggestion to put Sophia's nillies into Nillytown, or Press? They will be relatively buried here, eventually, and hard(er) to find without search, but relatively easy to post in one or the other now?
I think the abstentions should be counted too.
Like your math shows, including the abstentions is the difference between the yes votes having a majority or a plurality.
It makes democracy much messier, but more representative.
(just my $0.02)
I would think ( and Gar probably knows, as he know about voting) that the yes and no votes are the only ones that count as percentages, but the abstaines get tallied and published.
so:
100 Buffistas
50 Yes 66.7%
25 No 33.3%
25 Abstain.
Again, I am totally talking out of my ass. (I think Abstains would count toward a quorum, but not the majority)
For this vote, why does it matter how you count them? Aren't things being decided by simple majority?
[link]
This page seems to agree with me, but it doesn't seem official or anything.
Right - we have no quorum rule yet. My feeling it is a matter of labor. If it is no big deal for Jengod to tally abstensions as well as yes's and no's she should do so - even though it has no influence on the final vote. But if it increases her work significantly, it is not worth her doing so. Just my two cents.
Although now all the cites I am finding say that abstains don't count for a quorum, or they do, depending on wording of by-laws blah blah blah.
Too complicated.
Anyhow, they all gree that the "majority" is 1/2 + 1 out of yes votes + no votes.
So in the case:
100 Buffistas
25 yes
5 no
70 abstain
Yes wins, because out of the 30 people who voted, 25 voted "yes".
So you ignore the abstains, unless we want to see how may abstained just for our personal interest.
I don't think absentions ought to count towards a quorum. But they ought to be registered in the question of deciding a vote. Is my feeling.
