CGOV.16:5.1 - Correct addition, wrong decision denominator

A constructed board has five members. For this matter, one is excluded. All four eligible members participate: two vote for, one against and one abstains. The supplied rule requires at least three eligible participants and a simple majority of votes cast, excluding abstentions; no casting vote applies.

The count of marks is correct. To determine the decision, classify the four participants under the rule, establish quorum and use the three votes cast as the denominator. Two of three is a majority, so the proposal passes under the supplied conditions. The arithmetic is a constituent of rule-governed outcome determination, which participates in the corporate decision. Neither the five-name board list nor the four-person attendance figure alone supplies the vote denominator.

Now change only the approval rule to more than half of all eligible participants. The same two favourable votes among four eligible participants no longer pass. The encompassing rule changes the input to the threshold comparison without changing the ballot marks.

A secretary who divides by the same denominator in both cases needs the rule-to-calculation connection restored. A new calculator would not supply that understanding. A tool can calculate once given the proper inputs; the work still needs a competent determination of those inputs and the institutional result.