Votes & ballots

How do I open a motion?

Opening a motion is an administrator/chair action. Every other member — a director, a treasurer, an observer — sees the full Motions tab: each motion, its live tally and verdict, and its roll-call roster. They just don't see the Open a motion control, because the motion has to be put by whoever is chairing.

From a meeting's Motions tab (or the Run meeting cockpit — see Running a meeting), choose Open a motion and fill in:

• Motion title and motion text — the motion as moved, e.g. "That the board approve…".
• Threshold to pass — Simple majority, Two-thirds, or Unanimous. It defaults to your board's setting, but you can change it per motion.
• Optionally, the decision agenda item it settles, plus who moved and seconded it.

Once it's open, every eligible member casts Yes, No, Abstain, or Recuse from the roster underneath, and you'll see the tally update live. The verdict names the rule deciding it — for example "Carried: 4 of 6 votes cast (majority of votes cast)". Whether an abstention counts depends on your board's rules of order: by default only Yes and No votes count, so an abstention affects neither side. The rules are copied onto the motion when it opens, so a later change in Settings never re-decides it.

On the Motions tab, an open motion's roll-call roster is shown by default; a decided or withdrawn motion's roster starts collapsed behind a Show roll-call roster control so a meeting with several settled motions doesn't force a long scroll — the tally stays visible either way, and selecting the control expands the roster again whenever you want to review who voted which way. Once a motion is decided, its status (Passed or Failed) is the result: the live verdict is shown only while voting is open.

How votes are taken

Not every decision needs each director to vote by name. When the chair calls the vote, they choose how the board will vote, just above Call the vote. The choice starts on your board's default, which is set in Rules of order under How votes are usually taken. Most motions then need only one tap from the chair. Whoever runs the meeting can do this, including the secretary.

• Voice vote. The chair asks "All in favour, say aye. Those opposed, no." and rules on what they heard. If it's too close to call, the chair taps Unclear: take a show of hands.
• General consent. The chair asks "Is there any objection?" If nobody objects, the motion is adopted. An objection doesn't defeat the motion. It means the board has to vote, so Objection raised moves the motion to a show of hands (or to a roll call, if that is your board's default).
• Show of hands. The chair counts the hands and types the three numbers. BoardTools checks them against the voting members recorded as present. If there are more hands than that, the chair sees "That's 9 hands, but only 8 voting members are recorded as present. Check the count." No names are recorded, only the counts.
• Roll call. Each director votes from their own device, and the record shows how each one voted. See Voting from your phone.

A voice vote, general consent or show of hands still needs a quorum. If the chair rules "the ayes have it" but a quorum isn't present, the motion is recorded as not carried, and the chair is warned before they tap.

The chair can switch to a roll call at any point while the vote is open (Take a roll call instead). Once voting is open, the method can only move toward a more exact count, from voice or general consent to a show of hands or a roll call, and never back. Every switch is recorded in the audit log.

How do I ask for a roll call?

Any director in a voting seat can ask for a recorded vote. During a voice vote, general consent or show of hands, your screen shows what the chair is doing ("The chair is taking a voice vote") and a Request a roll call button. You can also ask just after the result is announced, as long as the meeting hasn't moved on to other business.

Asking doesn't change the vote by itself. The chair sees "Tom Lee asked for a roll call" and decides:

• Take a roll call: the vote switches to a roll call, and everyone votes by name. If the result had already been announced, the chair chooses Retake by roll call. The minutes keep the earlier result, followed by a line saying the vote was retaken by roll call.
• Keep the voice vote (or Let the result stand): the vote stands as taken.

The request and the chair's answer are both recorded in the audit log.

Voting from your phone

In a live meeting, you vote from your own device. Open the meeting (look for Live now: join the meeting) and keep Run mode open. When a director makes a motion, it appears on your screen within a few seconds. You don't need to reload. If you hold a voting seat and didn't make the motion yourself, you can Second this motion.

When the chair calls a roll call, a Vote now card appears with three large buttons: Yes, No and Abstain. (For a voice vote, general consent or show of hands there are no buttons. Your card tells you what the chair is asking, and offers Request a roll call. See How votes are taken.) There's a smaller Recuse myself option below them. Tap one. The card then shows ✓ Yes, your vote and "You voted Yes. You can change your vote until the chair closes voting."

• Changing your mind takes one tap on another choice, until the chair closes voting. Every change is recorded in the audit log.
• While voting is open you see the count, not the choices. The card says how many have voted ("6 of 8 have voted"). How each member voted is only shown after the vote closes, so nobody is swayed by early votes. It isn't shown at all for a secret ballot.
• Too late? If the chair closed voting just before your tap arrived, you'll see "Voting closed before your vote was recorded", and the card switches to the result.
• Not a voting member? If your seat is non-voting, you'll see "Voting in progress. You're not a voting member for this motion" instead of the buttons.

When voting closes, every device shows the result, for example "Motion carried 5–2 (1 abstention)". The card keeps showing the result and your own vote until the chair states the next question.

What goes into the minutes?

When voting closes, BoardTools writes the outcome into the minutes for the motion's agenda item. It includes the motion as moved, then who moved and seconded it and the result, for example: "Moved by Priya Shah, seconded by Tom Lee. Carried 5–2 (1 abstention) by roll call." The sentence names how the vote was taken: "Carried by voice vote.", "Adopted by general consent." or "Carried 6–2 on a show of hands." A voice vote or general consent never shows a count, because none was taken. A withdrawn motion reads "Motion by Priya Shah was withdrawn before a vote.", and a ruling reads "Ruled out of order:" followed by the chair's reason. Nobody has to type the motion into the minutes again.

The minutes' Decision register lists every motion the meeting dealt with, including failed and withdrawn ones, with an outcome for each: Carried, Failed, Withdrawn, Out of order, or By consensus for a decision recorded without a vote. Each entry also says how the vote was taken, for example "Vote: 5 Yes · 2 No · 1 Abstain · 0 Recuse (roll call)" or "Taken by voice vote — no count." The same list appears in the minutes PDF. Your board-wide Decisions page still shows decisions that passed.

How do I run a secret ballot?

Check Secret ballot when you open the motion, instead of leaving it as the default recorded roll-call. Use this when your bylaws call for a private vote rather than an on-the-record roll-call — for officer elections, for instance. If your board follows Robert's Rules, see Robert's Rules, the short version for more on when a secret ballot is typically appropriate, plus how amendments and motions like "table" or "call the question" fit into a motion's order.

A secret motion is marked with a Secret ballot badge on its card the moment it opens — before anyone has cast a vote, not just after — so it's never mistaken for an ordinary recorded roll-call. Its roll-call roster also carries a note reminding whoever is running the meeting to report the result to the board as an aggregate tally only, and to treat each member's individual choice as confidential. BoardTools doesn't yet decouple a secret ballot's roster from voter identity — the roster still shows who cast which choice to whoever can see this screen — so that confidentiality is currently a matter of the board's own policy and who you give access to, not a technical guarantee.

Who's allowed to vote?

Eligibility comes from the seat a member holds, not from what they're otherwise permitted to do in BoardTools. A seat is either voting or non-voting; a member in a non-voting seat sees the motion and can still help run the meeting, but has no ballot to cast — their roster row plainly says "Non-voting seat — no ballot" rather than just leaving it blank. See Roles vs. positions for the full picture of how seats and roles relate.

A member with no seat assigned at all is treated as eligible by default.

How is a result recorded?

Choose Record result to close an open motion. BoardTools only records it as passed when both the threshold is met (enough Yes votes) and quorum was met at the time — a motion can carry on the numbers alone and still not be recordable as passed if quorum wasn't there. Quorum here is counted exactly as on the meeting's attendance page and the Run cockpit badge: voting members present, out of the voting members in filled seats (see Who counts toward quorum?), so a non-voting attendee can't make or break it. The verdict is always spelled out in words ("Carries," "Does not carry," "Quorum not met") so it's never ambiguous. Changed your mind before recording? Withdraw motion pulls it without a result.

Good governance tip: if a motion "carries on the vote" but quorum wasn't met, treat that as a flag to revisit the item once you have quorum — not as a result you can quietly ignore.

Once a motion is recorded as passed, it joins your board's permanent, searchable record — see How do I find a past decision?.

On a phone

On a phone, Decisions shows each decision as one row: what was decided, then a single line with the date (in your board's time zone), the meeting it was decided at — or "Written consent" — and the threshold. A Carried or Failed label appears wherever the full table would show one. Tap the decision to open the motion. The ⋯ button on each row holds the rest: the document the decision adopted, any discussions about it, Start a discussion, and Copy citation. For the vote breakdown, open the motion, or turn your phone sideways to see the full table.

Can we approve several routine items with one vote?

Yes — that's the consent agenda. Group the routine items on the meeting's Agenda tab (see Approve a consent block with one vote), then choose Move the consent block. That opens one motion covering the whole block, from the agenda or from Run mode.

There is nothing special about how it is counted. A consent-block motion is an ordinary motion: same roll-call, same threshold, same quorum gate, same Record result button, same "carries / does not carry / quorum not met" verdict. The only difference is what it disposes of.

Before the block is moved, any member can ask for an item to be pulled from it. Pulling returns that item to the agenda on its own and removes it from the consent motion. Do it before the motion is opened — once it is, BoardTools asks you to withdraw the motion first, so the recorded motion never claims to have decided something it didn't.

When the result is recorded:

• every item in the block is marked Approved by consent on the agenda;
• every item's minutes decision line is filled in from that one result (any decision you had already typed yourself is left alone);
• the decision register entry lists the items the block covered, so a year later "what did that consent motion actually approve?" is answerable from the record;
• pulling an item and moving a block are both recorded in the audit log.

I got an email asking me to vote — what do I do?

Some decisions are taken between meetings, by written consent. When your board opens one of those, every eligible voter gets their own email with a Review & cast your ballot button. Choosing it opens your ballot page, where you'll see:

• the motion as moved, in full;
• Yes, No, Abstain, and Recuse, each with a one-line explanation of what it means for the count;
• how the round is decided (by default, every eligible voter must consent);
• the deadline your ballot has to be in by, shown in your board's own configured time zone (not necessarily yours) wherever it appears — on the ballot page, on the motion's card on the Motions tab, and on the Run cockpit's stage.

Choose one option and select Submit my ballot. A few things worth knowing:

• No sign-in needed. The link itself is your credential, which is why it's personal to you — please don't forward it. Anyone with your link can vote as you.
• It works exactly once. Once your ballot is recorded, the link stops working. Opening it again says "You've already voted" — that's expected, not an error. Need to change your vote? Ask your board administrator.
• It dies with the deadline. After the round closes, the link shows "This vote has closed" and no more ballots can be recorded. A non-response is not counted as consent, so if you want your vote to count, get it in before the deadline.
• One tap is enough. After you submit, the button reads "Submitting your ballot…" and stops accepting taps until it finishes, so a slow connection can't turn an impatient second tap into a second attempt. If something does go wrong, you get a plain "Something went wrong" page with a Try again button — and no ballot has been recorded.
• Abstain vs. Recuse. In a written-consent round, Abstain means "I'm not consenting" — only Yes counts toward the round. Recuse means you have a conflict of interest and are stepping back — a recusal shrinks the number of consents the round needs, so it never counts against the motion.
• If your link doesn't work at all and you haven't voted yet, ask your board administrator to send a fresh one. Links stop working if your seat is non-voting or if you're no longer serving on the board.

Written-consent decisions land in your board's permanent record just like motions decided in a meeting, marked as decided by written consent with the window they were open for — see How do I find a past decision?.

I lost the email — can I still vote?

Yes. Every open written-consent round has a page inside BoardTools, so the email is a convenience, not the only way in. Ballot links are personal and work exactly once, so once yours is spent (or deleted, or never arrived) go to Decisions → Written-consent rounds, open the round, and cast your ballot there. It offers the same Yes / No / Abstain / Recuse choices and is counted exactly the same way.

An outstanding round also appears on your Overview under Open votes, tagged By written consent with its deadline — so BoardTools won't tell you you're "all caught up" while a consent ballot is still waiting on you.

Your ballot is recorded once, whichever route you use. Afterwards the round's page shows the choice you recorded instead of a fresh form; ask your board administrator if you need it changed.

How do I start a written-consent round?

If you can open motions (chairs and board administrators), go to Decisions → Start a consent round — it's also on the Written-consent rounds page and in the Overview quick actions. You'll be asked for:

• a title — how the decision will be listed in the register;
• the motion — the operative wording the board is consenting to;
• moved by / seconded by, optionally, for the record;
• the consent needed to carry, prefilled from your board's default;
• when ballots close, prefilled to 5 PM on the last day of your board's default window, shown in your board's own time zone;
• whether to ratify at the next meeting — if the round carries, it's added to the next scheduled meeting's consent agenda.

Opening the round emails every eligible voter their single-use ballot link (unless your board has ballot emails switched off — see below).

How do I see how a round is going?

Decisions → Written-consent rounds lists every open round with, in plain words: the rule it's decided under, the deadline, how many of the eligible voters have consented so far, and who hasn't answered yet. A non-response is not consent, so an outstanding voter counts against reaching the threshold — the page says so rather than leaving you to infer it.

Nothing closes a round automatically when its deadline passes; it stays open until someone records the result. While it's waiting, the list marks it Deadline passed — in words and with a warning icon, never colour alone — using your board's own time zone to decide whether the deadline has actually gone by. A round that has already been recorded never carries this badge; it means the round is stuck and waiting, not that it was once late.

How is a written-consent round closed?

Anyone who can open motions can choose Record the result now on the round's page. Before it happens, BoardTools states the verdict the current tally produces — for example, "Closing now records this round as did not carry" — so there are no surprises. You can close a round before its deadline (useful when everyone has already consented), but be deliberate: any ballot not yet cast will never be cast, and a non-response is not consent.

Once recorded, the round is a permanent decision-register entry, and the page links straight to it.

Will I hear how a written-consent round came out?

Yes. The moment a round is recorded, every director who was eligible to consent gets one short notice — in the bell, and by email — so nobody has to come back and check, and the chair doesn't have to write it up. The title says how it came out ("Approve the grant application: carried" or "…: not carried"), and the body gives the count in words:

• "7 of 7 directors consented. It's recorded in the decision register."
• "4 consented, 1 objected, 2 didn't respond. Written consent needs every director, so it did not carry. It's recorded in the decision register."

If the round carried and was set to ratify at the next meeting, it adds that it will be noted at the next meeting. Choose See the decision to open the round's page.

If a round is withdrawn instead, only the directors who had already responded are told ("Approve the grant application was withdrawn") — nobody else is emailed about a round that simply went away.

Each round is announced once, however it was closed. You can turn these off, in-app or by email, with the Votes & ballots row in your notification preferences.

What are my board's voting defaults?

Your board sets defaults in Settings → Voting:

• Default pass threshold for a new motion.
• Default consent threshold — the rule a new written-consent round is prefilled with. Unanimous is the safe default for a decision taken without a meeting; a board can relax it to two-thirds or a simple majority of eligible voters. Whoever opens a round can still choose a different rule for that one round.
• How many days a consent round stays open — the deadline a new round is prefilled with, between 1 and 90 days.
• Email each eligible voter a ballot link when a round opens. Switch this off and BoardTools sends nothing — directors consent from the round's page inside BoardTools instead.

How an abstention affects a result is set by your board's rules of order (Settings → Rules of order), in the rule What a vote is counted against. Under votes cast (the default) an abstention doesn't count either way; under members present or all voting seats it works like a No. The rule is copied onto each motion when it opens, and the verdict names it — see Rules of order.

Changes to any of these are recorded in the tab's History panel, so you can see who changed a governance default and when.