Bahman Davani's Parliamentary Services

Contesting the Announced Result of an Election

46:48     Contesting the Announced Result of an Election. Depending on the circumstances, the voting body may be able to order a recount if an election was conducted by ballot (see 45:41), roll-call vote (see 45:54), or counted vote (see the last sentence of 45:15). In the case of a roll-call vote, a recapitulation may be possible (see 45:51). It may be possible, under some circumstances, to order that the election be voted on again by another method (see Retaking a Vote, 30:6).

45:41     After completion of an election or balloting on a motion, unless the voting body adopts an incidental main motion directing otherwise, the tellers place the ballots and tally sheets in the custody of the secretary, who keeps them under seal until the time within which a recount may be ordered expires, and then destroys them. A recount may be ordered by the voting body, by a majority vote, at the same session at which the voting result was announced, or at the next regular session if that session is held within a quarterly time interval (see 9:7). A recount may also be ordered at a special session properly called for that purpose, if held within a quarterly time interval of the session at which the voting result was announced and before the next regular session. A motion to order a recount after the vote has just been taken or announced is an incidental motion (see 30); if the motion is made at a later time, it is an incidental main motion.

45:54     The same rules concerning the custody and preservation of tally sheets and the authority of the voting body to order a recount that govern ballot votes (see 45:41) apply to a roll-call vote.

45:15     Method of Counting a Rising Vote. In small meetings, the chair can take such a count himself—with or without directing the secretary to make an independent count for verification. In a large assembly, the chair should appoint tellers to take the count. The count is taken by having those in the affirmative rise and stand until counted, then having those in the negative rise and stand until counted. The votes can also be counted by having the members pass between tellers, or having them count off by rows and be seated one at a time, although the latter process is particularly subject to confusion if great care is not exercised by the tellers. Those in the affirmative are always counted first. In all but small assemblies, the doors should be closed and no one should enter or leave the hall while a count is being taken. The form used in taking a count is as shown in 4:39. In a meeting small enough that each member present can make his own verification of a count on a show of hands, the chair can take the count by this method, if he prefers and no one objects. If written records are prepared in counting the vote, such as tellers' tally sheets, they are subject to the same retention and recount rules as ballots (45:41).

30:6        Retaking a Vote. As explained in 4 (see 4:34–56) and 45 (see 45:11), the regular methods of initially taking a vote are by voice (viva voce), by rising (division), or by show of hands—the latter two of which may also be called for by any member as a means of verifying an inconclusive vote that has just been taken (see 29)—and the chair may order that a vote be counted or that an uncounted vote be retaken as a counted vote. After a question has been voted on in any of these ways, and within the time specified in Standard Characteristic 1 above, the assembly can still order that the vote be taken again by some method other than any of the regular ones (see Other Methods of Voting, 45:17ff.) or that an uncounted vote be retaken as a counted vote. But after a vote has been taken by one of those other methods, or after the assembly has ordered that a counted vote be taken, it is not in order to move that the vote be taken again. It is never in order to move that the vote on a question be taken a second time by the same method.

Other Methods of Voting

45:17     In contrast to the methods of voting mentioned in the preceding subsection, the voting methods described below are used only when expressly ordered by the assembly or prescribed by its rules.

445:24   Form of the ballot. 5:18 Voting by Ballot.

45:17ff: 3. In some organizations—particularly secret societies—the use of black and white balls, deposited in a box out of sight of all but the voter, with a white ball signifying a yes vote and a black one a no vote, may be directed as a method of balloting. This method is used principally on voting on the admission of candidates to membership where one or very few negative votes are to be sufficient to cause a candidate's rejection. This custom, however, is apparently declining.

46:49     Otherwise, an election may be contested only by raising a point of order. The general rule is that such a point of order must be timely, as described in 23:5. If an election is disputed on the ground that a quorum was not present, the provisions in the last sentence of 40:12 apply. Other exceptions to the general timeliness requirement are those that come within the five categories listed in 23:6, in which cases a point of order can be made at any time during the continuance in office of the individual declared elected. For example:

a) If an individual does not meet the qualifications for the post established in the bylaws, his or her election is tantamount to adoption of a main motion that conflicts with the bylaws.

b) If there was a previously valid election for the same term, the subsequent election of another is the adoption of a main motion conflicting with one still in force.

c) If the votes of nonmembers or absentees in the election affect the result, action has been taken in violation of the fundamental principle of parliamentary law that the right to vote is limited to the members of an organization who are actually present at the time the vote is taken.

d) If an election to fill a vacancy is held without required previous notice, action has been taken in violation of a rule protecting the rights of absentees.

e) If a number of members sufficient to affect the result are improperly prevented from voting in an election, action has been taken in violation of a rule protecting a basic right of the individual member.

23:5        Timeliness Requirement for a Point of Order. The general rule is that if a question of order is to be raised, it must be raised promptly at the time the breach occurs. For example, if the chair is stating the question on a motion that has not been seconded, or on a motion that is not in order in the existing parliamentary situation, the time to raise these points of order is when the chair states the motion. After debate on such a motion has begun—no matter how clear it is that the chair should not have stated the question on the motion—a point of order is too late. If a member is unsure of his point or wishes to hear what the maker has to say on behalf of the motion before pressing a point of order, he may, with the chair's sufferance, “reserve a point of order” against the motion; but after the maker has spoken, he must insist upon his point of order or withdraw it. Points of order regarding the conduct of a vote must be raised immediately following the announcement of the voting result (see 45:9).

46:50     Because the voting body itself is the ultimate judge of election disputes, only that body has the authority to resolve them in the absence of a bylaw or special rule of order that specifically grants another body that authority. Thus, for example, when an election has been conducted at a membership meeting or in a convention of delegates, an executive board, even one that is given full power and authority over the society's affairs between meetings of the body that conducted the election, may not entertain a point of order challenging, or direct a recount concerning, the announced election result. While an election dispute is immediately pending before the voting body, however, it may vote to refer the dispute to a committee or board to which it delegates power to resolve the dispute.