Overview  

The Voting Options tab of Meeting Settings is where you establish specific voting criteria for this Group / Configuration (i.e., who can vote, how votes are tallied, what constitutes a passing vote, etc.). These are used to further personalize the Meeting Manager to your environment. 

Details / Sequence of Events 

Voting Options is the third tab within Configuration Settings / Meeting Settings. Review the following links if you need to understand more about Configuration Settings or how to access Meeting Settings: 

• Configuration Settings
• Meeting Settings

From the main menu Select Meeting Settings.  

Assuming you have completed Roster Setup and Display Options, select the Voting Options Tab (3rd tab on the top of the screen) and the following screen will display. Complete all the fields within the Voting Options area before moving to the next tab (Motions & Seconds).  

Descriptions of all the Voting Option fields are as follows: 

Chairperson Votes   

• Always – Chair is a full voting member and always votes. 

• Never – Chair is a meeting facilitator but does not vote. 

• To Break Ties – Chair only votes in case of a tie. 

Allow Abstains 

• Yes– Choose if your group’s by-laws permit members to cast abstentions (a vote that is neither a yes nor a no). 

• No– Voting Yes or No is mandatory, since abstentions are not allowed.   

Allow Chair to Abstain  

• Yes– This option only comes into play if your by-laws allow your chairperson to vote.  If you choose the Yes option, when/if your chairperson votes, they will be able to vote Yes, No, or Abstain.  

• No– Choose if a Yes or No vote is mandatory by the Chair (if the Chair is a voter). If you choose the No option, your Chair will not be allowed to Abstain.    

Default Voting Criteria  

This drop-down menu provides nine choices for you to select from. Choose the setting that represents the voting criteria you typically use to pass an item during voting. This will be the default criteria used when setting up all your Agenda Items. Often, these voting rules are established in your by-laws. 

NOTE: When setting up Agenda Items for each meeting in Agenda Manager, you will have the option to easily change this default setting for each individual Agenda Item. 

• Majority – A vote passes upon a majority of members present voting Yes.  

• Majority of Full Membership – A vote passes only upon a majority of the full membership voting Yes, regardless of how many are present.    

• 2/3 – A vote passes upon 2/3 Majority of Members present voting Yes. 

• 2/3 of Full Membership – A vote passes only upon a 2/3 majority of the full membership voting Yes.    

• 3/4 – A vote passes upon 3/4 majority of members present voting Yes.  

• 3/4 of Full Membership – A vote passes only upon a 3/4  majority of the full membership voting Yes.     

• Voice Vote – A voice vote passes if the “ayes” outnumber the “nays” when the chair asks, “Who’s in favor of approving this item?” 

• No Vote Required – Choose this if an item is discussion-only, such as when reports are delivered or citizens address the group.  No motions, seconds, or voting can be registered on a discussion-only item, but the RTS features in the system are active. 

• Custom – Choose this if you have “customized voting criteria”, where a specific number of votes are needed to pass an item, regardless of the total membership size or number present.   

• If Custom is chosen, the following option will display requesting you to key in the specific “Number of Yes Votes Needed” to pass the item: 

Display Vote Tally 

• Automatically, After Last Voter Registers – Choose this option if you would like your members’ voting positions revealed immediately on the Public Display and Member App after the last vote is cast. Note there’s no “last chance” for a voter to change their mind if they’re the last to cast their vote. 

• Manually, Initiated by the Clerk – Choose this option if you wish to ask the Members if they are finished and satisfied with their votes prior revealing them on the Public Display and Member App. The Clerk will manually confirm voting is complete before the votes are displayed.  

Display Voting Positions 

• All at Once – Choose this option if you wish the final votes (for all Members) displayed “all at once” on the Public Display and Member App, after voting has been finalized.  

• As Cast – Choose this option if you wish the votes to be displayed immediately as cast by each Member on the Public Display.  

• Anonymously – Choose this option if you never want to reveal individual voter positions. Only the vote tally and pass/fail outcome will be shown on the Public Display and Member App. This setting is appropriate when confidentiality is required for the voting members.   

Limit Voting Time 

• No – Choose this option if you never have a specific time limit for Members to cast their final votes.   

• Yes – Choose this option if you have a time limit for Members to cast their votes. If selecting the Yes option, you will enter a time limit for voting (in seconds).   

When Limit Voting Time is set to YES, any voter who fails to vote within the prescribed time limit will be automatically marked as “Did Not Vote” in the tally. 

• For either option (Yes or No) set here in the Config Settings, know that every NEW agenda item you create will inherit this setting as the default, so all agenda items that are voted on will be time-limited.  Thus, we recommend NOT making this your default IF you only want a few select items to be timed voting.  Rather, you can set the timed voting option individually by item when creating your agendas in the Agenda Manager, so that only those specific items will be timed. Of course, IF you use timed voting for EVERY vote, you would want this set here to be Yes.  

You are finished with Voting Options setup for this Configuration. 

Proceed to the next tab (at the top of the screen) in Configuration Setup, which is Motions & Seconds. These are next to be setup for this new configuration. Use the following link to view Motion & Seconds settings: 

Meeting Settings – Motions & Seconds 

Notes / Special Situations  

If you are having issues that are not successfully addressed above, or you are not successful signing into Meeting Manager, please call OpenMeeting Customer Support at 320.249.0555.