Are There Any Abstentions? By Carl Nohr, PRP
When a vote is called for, we expect to hear the following: “Those in favor of the motion, say Aye. Those opposed, say No.” The chair then declares which side has prevailed, whether the motion is adopted or not, the effect of adopting the motion, and then moves on by asking for further business. In some meetings, an additional question is asked: “Are there any abstentions?” What is an abstention? Why would a member do this? Should the chair ask for abstentions? To “abstain” means not to vote at all… RONR (11th ed.), p. 45, l. 16. RONR is clear that, “The chair should not call for abstentions in taking a vote, …a member who makes no response if “abstentions” are called for abstains just as much as one who responds to that effect.” RONR (11th ed.), p. 45, ll. 14-19. RONR also states that, “…the number of members who respond to such a call [for abstentions] is meaningless.” RONR (11th ed.), p. 45, ll. 15-16. Sometimes it is recorded in the minutes that a vote was unanimous in the affirmative. This may be viewed as desirable to report a high level of
support. Because abstentions are not counted, they do not detract from achieving unanimous support. Unanimity, however, does not necessarily mean strong universal support. One could imagine a situation with everyone in a meeting abstaining but one member—voting in the affirmative—resulting in a unanimous decision; hardly a high level of support! It is also important to note that abstentions are not ordinarily counted in determining whether a majority, two thirds vote, or any other voting result occurred. For example, a majority vote is defined as more than half of the votes cast by persons entitled to vote; this clearly leaves those who abstain out of the total vote count. However, if an organization’s bylaws or special rules of order define voting requirements as the number of members of present, an abstention has the same effect as a negative vote. Using the number of members present as the denominator in a voting requirement thus prevents a member from taking a neutral position by abstaining, forcing them to side with www.parliamentarians.org
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