About

Understanding parliamentary procedure is essential for navigating corporate boards, legislative assemblies, and organizational committees. The outcome of a vote is rarely as simple as counting raised hands. It depends heavily on the "denominator" - whether the majority is calculated based on total seats, members present, or a specific super-majority requirement.

This simulator models a voting session. It visualizes the assembly and applies strict logic to determine if a motion passes or fails. It handles distinct majority types: Simple Majority (more than 50% of present and voting), Absolute Majority (more than 50% of total composition), and Qualified Majority (e.g., 2/3rds for constitutional amendments). It also checks for Quorum, the minimum attendance required for business to be valid.

Use this tool to test scenarios: What happens if 10 members abstain? Does the motion pass if 20% of the chamber is absent? The visual output provides an immediate, intuitive understanding of the vote distribution.

Formulas

The status of a motion is determined by two conditions: Quorum and Majority. Both must be satisfied.

{

Quorum Met = (Yes + No + Abstain) ≥ ceil(Total × Q%)Simple Pass = Yes > (Yes + No) ÷ 2Absolute Pass = Yes > Total ÷ 22/3 Pass = Yes ≥ 2/3 ⋅ (Yes + No)

If FALSE on Quorum, the vote is invalid regardless of the count.

Reference Data

Majority Type	Definition	Threshold Formula	Common Use Case
Simple Majority	> 50% of votes cast	Yes > (Yes + No) ÷ 2	Ordinary legislation, procedural motions
Absolute Majority	> 50% of all members	Yes > TotalSeats ÷ 2	Election of officers, confidence votes
Qualified (2/3)	≥ 2/3 of votes cast	Yes ≥ 23 × Votes	Constitutional amendments, expulsions
Qualified (3/5)	≥ 3/5 of total or cast	Yes ≥ 0.6 × Total	Budget approval, overriding vetos
Unanimity	100% of votes cast	No = 0	Sensitive diplomatic agreements
Quorum Check	Min. attendance required	Present ≥ Q_Limit	Opening a session
Blocking Minority	Votes needed to stop	No > Total − Threshold	EU Council voting
Casting Vote	Tie-breaker	Chair → Decides	50/50 Splits

Frequently Asked Questions

It depends on the majority type. In a "Simple Majority", abstentions are usually ignored; the motion passes if Yes > No. However, in an "Absolute Majority", an abstention effectively acts as a "No" vote because it contributes to the total count but not the "Yes" column, making it harder to reach 50% + 1 of the total membership.

Quorum is calculated based on the number of members present (Yes + No + Abstain). If this sum is lower than the required percentage of the Total Seats (often 50%), the session is invalid, and the result is null.

2/3 Present requires 66.7% of the people currently in the room to vote Yes. 2/3 Total is a much higher bar, requiring 66.7% of all existing seats to vote Yes, meaning absent members are effectively counting against the motion.

In this simulation, the chair is assumed to be one of the voting members included in your "Yes", "No", or "Abstain" counts. If you need to simulate a tie-breaking vote, manually add 1 to the "Yes" or "No" count.