Decisions, Decisions

by    T. C. Pinckney                                                                                                                                 Vol. IV, No. 8, November 1991

Messengers at conventions are faced with a seemingly endless series of decisions on whether to vote yea or nay. Of course the ideal is for each messenger to arrive at the meeting with complete, accurate information on every subject of discussion, to understand fully all the proceedings, and to make a well-informed, well-considered judgment as to how to vote on each question. Unfortunately that is not always possible.

Sometimes, in fact often, a vote occurs on a matter about which a messenger is uninformed, is uncertain of the parliamentary situation, or just hasn't made up his mind. What do you do then?

When you are uncertain, you have three choices: abstain, make your best guess, or seek other clues as to how you should vote. This article assumes you wish neither to abstain nor guess. Here are a few techniques others use that may help you.

One way is to seat yourself in sight of someone in whom you have confidence, with whom you agree, and who, you believe is more informed and experienced than yourself. Then if you are uncertain, you can vote the way he or she does. If it is a ballot vote and you are close enough, you can simply ask him.

Of course the reverse may also be used. Watch someone with whom you disagree on the issues and vote the opposite.

A third device is to judge by the person making the motion or nomination. When you don't understand the matter or know the nominee, but you do know the person supporting the motion or nominee, you can base your decision upon your knowledge of the person offering the motion or nomination.

Fourth, you can often judge by the organizational source of a position. For example, ten years ago at the Southern Baptist Convention any recommendation from an SBC committee was not the conservative position, because moderates/liberals had absolute control of all the committees. Today, however, you know hat an SBC committee recommendation is conservative because conservatives hold the majority on each one. Of course, in Virginia you know that conservatives not only do not hold any committee majorities, they are often not represented at all, and you can base your yea or nay on that fact if nothing better.

Unquestionably it is highly desirable to understand every motion and all parliamentary procedures perfectly so that you can make decisions without relying on such clues as outlined above. Likewise, the above devices do not permit fine tuning your decision. For example, many votes have nothing to do with liberal-conservative issues. Nevertheless, in the absence of full understanding, these tips can be helpful. And note that this information is not politically biased; it works whether you are moderate or conservative.