What is a Plurality Vote? (Overview, Definition, and Examples)

1. Define the Voting Issue

Before you get to the actual plurality vote, the board must first clearly define the issues it plans to vote on.

Voting procedures begin with a director introducing a motion for a specific issue to the board chair, who then puts it forward for the rest of the team. At least one other director must second the motion before it can be discussed by the board. These discussions can provide clarity to the topic and hone in on the most important aspects of the subject. 

Well-written board meeting minutes can also add further context to the conversations by recounting related information from previous meetings and serving as a record of the decision-making process in the future. 

It’s important to conduct all these steps legally and ethically to avoid the risk of team members instigating a vote of no confidence against the highest positions of power. 

2. Establish Voting Eligibility

The next step is to define voting requirements for all stakeholders. In most organizations, directors hold voting rights unless they have a vested interest in the result of the vote. 

These privileges are one of many pieces of information included in the operating agreement of your organization. The document’s main purpose is to create a buffer between the organization and its owners, but it also serves as a way to formalize governance processes around voting, board meetings, and the general structure of management.

Voter eligibility can be further explained by quorums written into organizational bylaws. These clauses demarcate the minimum number of directors needed for an official meeting to take place. The number can be fixed or a representative sample of the group. If the quorum does state a fixed number, it must be big enough to indicate the views of the voting body without being so large that holding meetings becomes difficult.

3. Hold the Vote

Once the voting issues and eligibility have been clarified, the vote can then take place. Most companies announce an official date for when the board can participate in the vote. The date should be recorded and easy to look up for all interested parties in meeting minutes or reports.

The mechanics of the vote also need to be communicated, i.e. if the vote has to be done in-person, online, or can be done in a hybrid format. 

4. Count the Vote

After the vote takes place, they must be counted and recorded by designated team members (usually the board chair).  

Traditional procedures entail a show of hands or a verbal roll call for votes, but some chairs may decide to use modern technologies such as video conferences, teleconferences, or board management software to tally the votes. 

5. Announce the Results

Once the votes have been tallied, the final step is to announce the results to all relevant parties. If there’s a mechanism for changing your mind after a vote takes place, it must be done before the announcement. The results are then documented as part of a board resolution.