With the various ways that Neighborhood Councils can take action, there is often confusion in cases where the count is close on whether an item has passed or not. To ensure consistency, the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment is providing information on how Neighborhood Council voting is interpreted by the Department and the Office of the City Attorney. Here is a breakdown of what to look for to make sure every vote is counted correctly. Most of the information below should be in a Neighborhood Council’s bylaws or standing rules.

Know the Basic Numbers

You’ll need to look at the bylaws to determine some basic information first:

  1. Total number of board seats
  2. Quorum to take action
  3. Any board members or seats ineligible to vote on certain items because of training requirements,
    recusals or age. Board members who are ineligible to vote because of training requirements or
    recusals won’t be listed in the bylaws, but typically are announced at the meeting.

Know How the Board Takes Action

Boards typically take action in the following ways, which will result in different outcomes:

  1. Simple majority of board members present
  2. Simple majority of board members present and voting
  3. Simple majority of the total board

Instead of simple majority, the number can also be two-thirds. This higher number is typically for board member removal or changes to the bylaws.

Example
A Neighborhood Council has 15 board seats and has a quorum of 9 board members to take action. Eleven board members are present, but only 9 are qualified to vote for an item before them because of training requirements. Based on the 3 ways a board can take action, here are the important numbers for the scenario:

  1. Simple majority of board members present – Requires 6 votes to pass
  2. Simple majority of board members present and voting – Requires 5 votes to pass
  3. Simple majority of the total board – Requires 8 votes to pass

If the final vote is 6 for, 3 against and 2 ineligible, then the motion only passes under the first 2 scenarios.

Remember, the required number of votes necessary can change between each agenda item. For instance, if in this scenario, the next item requires 2 board member recusals as well as the 2 ineligible board members, then some of the important numbers have shifted because only 9 board members are present now with 7 qualified to vote:

  1. Simple majority of board members present – Requires 5 votes to pass
  2. Simple majority of board members present and voting – Requires 4 votes to pass
  3. Simple majority of the total board – Requires 8 votes to pass

If the final vote is 4 for, 3 against and 2 ineligible, then the motion still passes under the 2nd scenario, but not the 1st and 3rd.

Even though a board member is ineligible to vote, s/he still counts towards quorum and the number of board members present. S/he does not, however, count towards the number of board members voting. A recused board member does not count towards quorum or the number of board members present or the number of board members voting.

To get the simple majority number, divide the number of board members necessary by 2 and round up if you get a half number, e.g. 6.5 = 7.

Know How Abstentions Are Treated
Instead of voting for or against an item, a Neighborhood Council board member may abstain instead. In the Neighborhood Council bylaws, abstentions may still count in the total vote, but the voting outcome will be different based on how the Neighborhood Council treats abstentions. The Neighborhood Council bylaws template sets out how the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment and the Office of the City Attorney interprets abstentions. If the Neighborhood Council bylaws state that they “include abstentions” in the total vote, the abstentions will act as a yes vote in essence similar to the City Council. If the Neighborhood Council bylaws states that they “do not include abstentions” in the total vote, the abstentions could be be removed entirely from the vote tally depending on the situation, changing the number of votes necessary to pass a motion.

Example
A Neighborhood Council has 15 board seats and has a quorum of 9 board members to take action. Eleven board members are present, but only 9 are qualified to vote for an item because of training requirements. Based on the 3 ways a board can take action, including how they treat abstentions, here are the important numbers for the scenario:

Final Vote: 3 for, 3 against, 3 abstentions and 2 ineligible.

    1.  Simple majority of board members present, including abstentions – 11 board members present so simple majority of 6 votes is required to pass
      -Vote passes because the abstentions are included and considered a yes vote so there are 6 votes for the motion (3 for and 3 abstentions).
    2.  Simple majority of board members present, not including abstentions – 11 board members present so simple majority of 6 votes is required to pass
      -Abstentions are not removed from the final tally here so 6 votes are needed to pass. Here, abstentions in essence act as a no vote. So there are only 3 for votes, which is not enough for the majority of 6 needed. Vote does not pass.
    3.  Simple majority of board members present and voting, including abstentions – 9 board members present and voting so simple majority of 5 votes to pass
      -Vote passes because the abstentions are included and considered a yes vote so there are 6 votes for the motion (3 for and 3 abstentions), which goes beyond the 5 needed to pass.
    4. Simple majority of board members present and voting, not including abstentions – 3 abstentions removed from the 9 board members present and voting leaving a simple majority of 4 to pass of the remaining 6 votes
      -In this scenario, abstentions are removed from the final vote tally completely in order to determine the simple majority number of the remaining votes because an abstention is considered “not voting.” The 3 abstentions are removed from the 9 board members voting, resulting in only 6 board members now present and voting. The simple majority of 6 is 4. There are only 3 for votes, which is not enough for the new majority of 4 needed. Vote does not pass.
    5. Simple majority of the total board, including abstentions – Requires 8 votes to pass, abstentions do not matter
      -Vote does not pass because there are not 8 votes even with abstentions (3 for, 3 abstentions = 6).
    6. Simple majority of the total board, not including abstentions – Requires 8 votes to pass, abstentions do not matter
      -Abstentions are not removed from the final tally here so 8 votes are needed to pass. The abstentions in essence act as a no vote so there are only 3 for. Vote does not pass because there are not 8 votes.

If you have any questions about Neighborhood Council voting, please contact our Neighborhood Council Support Helpline at (213) 978-1551 or by emailing NCSupport@lacity.org.