ARTICLE VIII: VOTING

A. General Procedure

Voting will commence immediately following the end of debate. A new thread should be opened in the Voting Booth forum for each vote, with the question on which members are voting posted at the top of the new thread, along with the deadline for voting.

Members shall vote in accordance with Article VIII, Section 2 of AGS Rules.

A member has the right to change her/his vote until the conclusion of voting, so long as he/she does so by adding a new reply to the vote thread explicitly stating the change of vote.

While it is expected that members will want to vote on all matters before the House, no member can be compelled to vote, and not voting shall not be tallied toward the outcome of a House vote. Members voting Abstain or Present, however, shall be tallied, and such votes may affect the outcome in special circumstances.

The Speaker shall normally vote last, and shall then tally the votes cast, e.g. �With twenty-six Ayes, thirteen Nays and three abstentions, this measure passes.� The presiding officer shall also note which, if any, votes have been disqualified and the reasons for such disqualification.

B. General Consent

The House may choose to deal with questions of minor importance by unanimous consent. When a member makes a motion for unanimous consent during debate, the presiding officer shall offer a period to hear objections no less than 48 hours (not including any hours on a Saturday or a Sunday). If a member should object, the motion is not agreed to and may not be offered again for the same question, but if no objection is made during the specified period, the question shall have been approved by unanimous consent.

Since all questions are brought before the House or a committee by member action, no question may be defeated by unanimous consent.

C. Votes requiring more than a simple majority

Article VIII, Section 2 of AGS Rules lists most cases in which a majority of more than half is required. In cases of two-thirds or three-fourths majorities, such majorities shall include the total number of votes cast- not the ratio of Yeas to Nays. For example, suppose 14 members vote on a question in a meeting of a society where 20 are present out of a total membership of 70, a two-thirds vote would be 10; a two-thirds vote of the members present would be 14; and a vote of two-thirds of the members would be 47.

D. Votes that are null and void even if unanimous

No motion is in order that conflicts with the laws of the nation, or state, or with the assembly's constitution or by-laws, and if such a motion is adopted, even by a unanimous vote, it is null and void. No rule that conflicts with a rule of a higher order is of any authority; thus, a by-law providing for the suspension by general consent of an article of the constitution would be null and void; so, the general parliamentary rule allowing a two-thirds vote to amend the by-laws after due notice, is only in force when the by-laws are silent on the subject. Rules that protect absentees cannot be suspended informally by general consent, or formally by a unanimous vote, as the absentees have not given their consent. For instance, a rule requiring the giving of a specified notice of certain motions, as an amendment of the by-laws, cannot be suspended by general consent or by a unanimous vote.