Question: Failing to Accounce the Voting Count

Our new PTO just voted in their bylaws and their new officers. The President won in a landslide. The loser wanted to know the count, but it was so overwhelming, the brand new officers felt it would be in super poor taste to announce it. The loser is still demanding the count, but just to be told to her. Roberts Rules of Order (our bylaws say we'll use them) indicates the count should have been read, but we're all green and nobody new that at that moment. What is the penalty for not announcing the actual voting count? The Executive Board thinks it is a bad precedent to set and is simply low class to announce it, especially in light of the fact the vote was so overwhelming, but since the loser is pressing the issue, we seem to not have a choice but to announce it to the whole world. What do you recommend? Thank you!

Asked by Anonymous

Answers:

Advice from PTO Today

Craig writes:
You should announce the vote count. In your effort to be kind to the loser, you don't want to make it look like you're covering up something, and she definitely has the right to know the vote count. Yes, it might be painful for her, but it's important to be transparent in all you do. You can best ease the situation by making it clear that you consider her an important contributor to the group and no matter the outcome of the election, you value her work.

Advice from PTO Today

Craig writes:
So a second question was posed about whether at this point it's appropriate to announce the vote count to the whole group. I'd say it depends on how much of a fuss has been made. If the discussion has been entirely in private, I think it's OK to tell the person the vote count in private. If it occurred at an open meeting, I think you probably need to clarify it at a meeting so that it appears in the minutes. Something along the lines of you've consulted Robert's Rules and they call for the vote count to be announced. So you're announcing it now.