Mal ,'Objects In Space'
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
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?
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.
I don't think absentions ought to count towards a quorum.
But the abstentions indicate that at least a certain number of people paid attention to the fact that there was a vote and discussion going on. That's what the quorum is designed to establish, isn't it?
However, we may need to change majority to plurality if lots of abstentions become the norm.
But the abstentions indicate that at least a certain number of people paid attention to the fact that there was a vote and discussion going on. That's what the quorum is designed to establish, isn't it.
But what exactly... oh, no, I get it. Yes. As long as an abstention means "I don't like either of the choices and want to talk more about a third choice, or develop a third choice," and not, "I don't know what to do but I want to register that I'm here, damn it", that does make sense. Agreed.
I think the abstentions will only be this high on this ballot, since there are several issues at once. I'd say that we wait to see what the numbers look like for this one, and if the abstentions do make a difference, we figure out what to do about it then. Otherwise, how to count abstentions sill be one of the things to decide later.
Oh, I totally think abstentions count towards a quorum.
I'm having a hard time imagining a topic where you'd get quite that many abstentions, though. I'm not sure what the point of abstaining becomes, then--if it changes the % becuase so many abstained, and the vote doesn't pass, isn't that like voting no? I don't get it.