All three sites that I use to gather voting information; Presbyweb, Yes08, and Layman as
not tracking abstain votes of the delegates. I notice that many leaders of organizations have a tendency to ignore abstain. As an amateur parliamentarian, this make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Since most votes are determined by majority of those voting, the abstains officially count as
NO votes. SO, in a close vote, not counting abstains, could illegally alter the vote. This depends on the rules of each Presbytery. Nationally, the Abstains mean No, as it is majority of all Presbyteries, whether they vote or not.
One blog happened to mention that the Presbytery of San Francisco vote was 167-177-4. This changed %No from 51.45% to 52.01% or 167-181. I hope each and every clerk (Presbytery, Session, ...) knows better and it is only the web sites that are sloppy in their reporting.
By my count 6 Presbyteries are in the 2% difference bracket. Could any of these votes be invalid?
1 comment:
Jim,
I seem to remember that at my presbytery vote, we had at least 1 abstention. It does not show in the tallies.
That said, the vote was 2 to 1 against the change, so the inclusion of the abstention did not change the result, but in others it could have.
For instance, looking at Presbyweb's chart, 3 abstentions would have changed a FOR vote in San Jose, to a 84-81-3 to a tie which would result in a AGAINST result.
Same in Sheppard and Lapsley and Whitewater Valley in each, if there were 2 abstentions it would have changed the results in both.
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