The recent shenanigans in Wisconsin have demonstrated a distinction people often have trouble with. There is a key difference between the “quorum” and the “number of votes needed to win.” While regretting that political disagreements led all the Democrats in the Wisconsin Senate to flee to Illinois this week, we have to seize the opportunity to comment.
A “quorum” is the minimum number of voting members needed for a body to take action. The existence of this concept is due to the obvious fact that everybody who belongs to a certain group is not going to attend every meeting. We need to be sure that a small group of people don’t act in the name of the whole, taking action which the larger group might not approve of.
The smaller the group, the larger the percentage of members who ought to be there. Bylaws, state law or regulations usually state what this number is. In the case of the Wisconsin Senate, with 33 members, 20 members must be present for action to be taken. (If no quorum is specified, then the quorum is a “majority” – more than half of the voting members.)
The November 2010 election produced a Senate with 19 Republicans and 14 Democrats. The astute reader quickly notices that 19 is less than 20 – so the Republicans by themselves don’t make up a quorum. There has to be at least one Democrat present for the body to be able to act.
“Votes needed to win” is a whole ‘nother thing. Once a quorum is present, members discuss issues and may take action on them. In order for an action to be approved – for a motion to pass – a majority of those voting must vote in favor. Half of 33 is 16.5, and since votes are cast by whole people, not by fractions, 17 members of the Wisconsin Senate must vote in favor for a motion to win. You, careful reader, have no doubt already seen that since 19 is more than 17, it should be easy for the Republicans to approve a measure and therefore to win.
PROVIDED that any voting can take place at all – that is, provided that a quorum is present.
And if 14 Democrats decamp en masse to a neighboring state, taking refuge in an “undisclosed location,” then there are 19 members present in the room, there is no quorum in the Senate, no voting can happen, and hence no victory for the Republicans.
The political disagreements are severe on the legislation at issue, and the refusal of the Democrats to appear is prolonging public demonstrations. The press reports that the angry citizens with sleeping bags have camped out, and are literally beating drums in the halls of the capitol. The Senate sergeant-at-arms was peering into offices and restrooms, trying to locate a Democratic Senator. A state policeman traveled to Senatorial homes with the same mission. In our view, people who think that meeting procedure is boring don’t grasp the depth, breadth and complexity of Robert’s Rules in real life.
Ann G. Macfarlane, PRP
(c) Jurassic Parliament 2011. All rights reserved.
