Legal Definitions - casting vote

A casting vote is a decisive vote that can be exercised by a presiding officer or chairperson when a vote among members results in a tie. Its purpose is to break the deadlock and allow a resolution or decision to be made, preventing the motion from failing due to an equal division of votes.

Here are some examples to illustrate this concept:

• Imagine a five-member city council debating whether to approve a new zoning ordinance for a commercial development. After a lengthy discussion, the council members cast their votes: two vote in favor, and two vote against. The Mayor, who presides over the council meetings, has the authority to cast the tie-breaking vote. If the Mayor votes in favor, the ordinance passes; if the Mayor votes against, the ordinance fails. In this scenario, the Mayor's vote is the casting vote because it determines the outcome of the tied decision.

• Consider a non-profit organization's board of directors, which has seven members, including the Board Chair. They are voting on a proposal to allocate a significant portion of their annual budget to a new community outreach program. When the votes are tallied, three directors vote for the proposal and three vote against it. The Board Chair, who typically only votes in the event of a tie, then exercises their casting vote. If the Chair votes in favor, the budget allocation is approved; if they vote against, it is rejected. This single vote resolves the stalemate.

• In a university's academic senate, a committee of ten professors is voting on a new curriculum change. The committee members are split evenly, with five voting to adopt the new curriculum and five voting to retain the old one. The Dean of the Faculty, who chairs the academic senate and this committee, holds the power of a casting vote. The Dean's decision, whether to support or oppose the curriculum change, will break the tie and finalize the committee's recommendation to the full senate.