Voting 101

The single most important thing about voting in the ASTM standards development process is: do it. You have a voice, so vote.

A single negative vote can stop a standard from moving forward in the balloting process. And that’s even if you do not have an official vote.

In addition, if you are an official voting member, you need to vote for vote tallies: Official votes are tallied, and a 60 percent return for official voters must be achieved.

Note that you need to be a member to vote, and you need to be a subcommittee member (assuming you’re a member of the main committee) to vote at the subcommittee level before a standard (new or revised) reaches main committee ballot. (Task group votes are more informal and do not follow these rules.)

“Official votes” help provide checks and balances. Official votes are for tallies, to be sure a 60 percent return is achieved; for a quorum in a meeting; and for addressing negatives votes to find them not persuasive or not related.

One official vote per company keeps one company from “stuffing the ballot box,” as it were. ASTM does not say who should have that official vote; that’s typically up to the company to specify their representation.

The Regulations Governing ASTM Technical Committees also require committees that develop standards to be balanced. According to the requirement, producer members cannot outnumber user and general interest members. The requirement also helps ensure that balloting will not be skewed by interest.

Read more about voting at the Regulations Governing ASTM Technical Committees at www.astm.org/Regulations.