Reaching Member Agreement: Consensus and Concurrence

Consensus: After study and discussion, "consensus," or member agreement, is reached by members through group discussion. Consensus is not a simple majority, nor is it necessarily unanimity; rather, it is the overall sense of the group as expressed through the exchange of ideas and opinions.

Process: Be sure members are well informed about the subject. Consensus rests on a common base of knowledge. Provide basic information to all members that include the facts, the issues, and the options for addressing the problem, with their pros and cons. Use creativity in supplementing written information with speakers, tours, etc. Remember that people have different learning styles. The common base of knowledge includes exposure to a variety of perspectives to avoid bias. The information shared during the study stage builds the knowledge needed to become successful advocates. Consensus is more than a vote or a poll. However, a show of hands may be used to determine the sense of the group.

• All Leagues shall use the consensus form received from LWVWA.
• Consensus reports from local League unit meetings shall be submitted to the local League board. They shall not be sent directly to LWVWA or to the state study committee.
• The reports from the unit meetings shall clearly indicate whether or not consensus was reached. If a question is left blank, say why: "we did not reach consensus" or, "we did not have enough time to deal with this question."
• The local League board shall compile and approve the consensus statement based upon its review of the consensus reports from the unit meetings.
• The local League board shall submit the consensus statement to LWVWA. All consensus reports from the units shall be submitted to LWVWA as attachments to the consensus statement approved by the local League board.
• The consensus form submitted to LWVWA shall have the name of the local League, date of the board meeting, and number of local League members participating in the consensus meetings. If any papers are submitted, they should be firmly attached to the consensus form.

Concurrence: Member agreement with a position or statement adopted or proposed by another League or League group. Delegates to state convention or council may concur with:

• Recommendations of a state study or action committee,
• Decisions or statements recommended by the state board, or
• Positions adopted or proposed by another League or Leagues.

Evaluating Consensus: After the study committee has submitted the evaluation of the consensus forms sent in by local Leagues, the state board evaluates whether or not agreement was reached:

• Based on member agreement, not the personal views of the committee or board members,
• With clarification of what constitutes "agreement," if voting was the decision-making process,
• With understanding that agreement must be among a group representative of the membership as a whole, and
• With recognition that consensus efforts do not always lead to agreement.

Following this evaluation the board accepts or rewrites the position statement as drafted by the study committee, based on the areas of member agreement.