AGM - what would happen if.......

[Squash64]

I know this is highly unlikely.....

but what would happen at our AGM this Sunday if it was a dead heat in the voting for our current chairman to be re-elected and another person who has been proposed? 

[grawrc]

With us, the Chair has a casting vote!!!

[Squash64]

But at the time of the vote, would we still have a Chair?  I think the committee resigns and then the vote is taken.  Or is the Chair still the Chair?

[Trevor_D]

With us, the Chairman resigns first, leaving me - as Secretary - to take the meeting. Once the Chairman has been elected I tender the resignation of myself and the entire Committee and the Chairman takes over.

Someone's got to be in charge at that point, otherwise no voting can take place. So that person would have a casting vote.

(I hope it doesn't happen to us - I'm married to the Chairman!)

[tonybloke]

some associations have a 'president',  i.e. someone who presides over the AGM when all of the existing committee stand down before re-election.

[Unwashed]

Hi Squash

Is it a vote or an election?  What I mean is, if it's an election then it's the member who gets the most votes who becomes chair, and if there's a tie and your constitution doesn't tell you what to do then you can decide on the toss of a coin - it doesn't seem proper to decide this with a casting vote.

If it's a vote then the motion is that the current chair be replaced with a new bod, and a tie of votes for and against does not carry the motion.

If the committee are obliged to stand down at the AGM then I suggest it's an election, but if the chair is only replaced if someone else is voted in then I suggest it's a vote.

It's perfectly reasonable for the chair to stand down before the AGM and then the first item of business is to decide who's to chair the meeting, and toss a coin for that if there's a tie.

I don't like casting votes, I'm strictly for one-member-one-vote and issues decided by strict majority.

[davyw1]

Tied results impossible but this may help, as unwashed says its a coin or a bit of paper

There has never been a tie in a UK general election and there never will be.

Since 1945, the smallest margin recorded is two in the case of Winchester above. Prior to 1997, the closest results were in the Conservative victory in Peterborough in 1966 and Labour's win in Carmarthen which in February 1974 - both by three votes.

In the unlikely event that recounts have failed to separate the two or more leading candidates, the returning officer is required by law to settle the matter immediately.

He or she can use any random method such as tossing a coin, but the recommended way is to ask each candidate to write their name on a blank slip of paper and place it in a container.

The returning officer then pulls out one of the slips and allocates one extra vote to that candidate, making them the winner by a single vote.

[grawrc]

That sounds a lot fairer to me!

[Unwashed]

What happened then Squash?

[Squash64]

What happened then Squash?

A bit of an anti-climax really.
 
The other person who was nominated didn't turn up, neither did the person who nominated him.  As he hadn't even been seconded the whole committee was re-elected with no opposition.

We were a bit disappointed with the turnout. I put notices up around the site at least six weeks ago, I sent an email to about 50 people on our email group, but only 20 out of 110 plotholders turned up.

In one way, maybe it shows that most people are satisfied with the way we are running things so they didn't think it necessary to come to the meeting.  I hope that's it, and not that they just couldn't be bothered.

Thanks for asking 

[Mrs Soup]

We were a bit disappointed with the turnout. I put notices up around the site at least six weeks ago, I sent an email to about 50 people on our email group, but only 20 out of 110 plotholders turned up.




Don't be too disappointed, a 20% turnout sounds about right. We have about 50 plotholders and I don't think we've ever had more than 10 at the AGM.

I'm sure I've read somewhere that most clubs etc rely on this sort of percentage of active members, and a smaller number again who actually make a contribution to the running/organisation.