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Count a Model UN (MUN) vote as it happens and see whether it passes. Enter attendance from roll call, pick procedural or substantive and the majority the chair announces, then record yes, no and abstain votes with a click or a key. The result updates with every vote and shows the arithmetic, so a chair, a rapporteur or a delegate checking the count can see exactly why. Security Council mode applies the nine-vote rule and the permanent members' veto. Free, no signup, and nothing leaves your browser.
Delegates voting
20
Use your roll call. Delegates who answered “present and voting” must vote yes or no; only those who answered “present” may abstain, and only on substantive votes.
Result
No votes recorded yet
The arithmetic
Pick Standard committee for a General Assembly, ECOSOC or specialized committee, or Security Council to apply the nine-vote rule and the permanent members’ veto.
Type how many delegates answered “present” and how many answered “present and voting”. The tool uses these to set the base for procedural votes and to cap abstentions.
Choose procedural for a motion about how debate runs, or substantive for a draft resolution or amendment, and the majority the chair announces: simple or two thirds.
Click Yes, No or Abstain as placards go up or as delegations answer a roll call, or press Y, N and A on the keyboard. In Security Council mode, record a permanent member’s no with P. Press Z to undo a mistake.
The result updates with every vote and shows the arithmetic behind it. It also says when the outcome is settled before every vote is in, because the votes left can no longer change it.
Keyboard shortcuts work anywhere on the page except inside the attendance boxes: Y yes, N no, A abstain, P a permanent member's no (Security Council mode), and Z or Backspace to undo. In a roll-call vote where a delegation passes, record nothing until it answers on the second call.
Every vote in committee is one of two kinds, and the kind decides who may abstain and what the majority is counted against. The chair says which kind a vote is before calling it.
Votes on how the committee runs: opening or closing the speakers’ list, setting speaking time, suspending the meeting for a moderated or unmoderated caucus, closing debate, adjourning. Under the rules most US Model UN conferences teach, every delegate present votes yes or no and nobody abstains, so the base is attendance. A simple majority is the default; many conferences ask for two thirds on motions that cut debate short, such as closing debate.
Votes on content: draft resolutions and amendments, taken during voting procedure. Delegates who answered “present” at roll call may abstain, and abstentions leave the base entirely, so the majority is counted only among the delegates who voted yes or no. That is why a draft can pass with fewer than half the room voting for it.
At roll call, the chair calls each delegation and it answers “present” or “present and voting”. “Present and voting” is a commitment: that delegation will vote yes or no on every draft resolution and cannot abstain. Enter both numbers above and the tally will refuse an abstention the room can't cast. If a delegation arrives after roll call, send a note to the dais and update the count.
The result and the arithmetic on each row are produced by the same code as the tally above.
Procedural vote: nobody may abstain, so the base is everyone present: 25. A simple majority of 25 is more than half: 25 ÷ 2 = 12.5, so 13 yes votes (a tie fails). Yes votes: 13 ≥ 13, enough to carry.
Procedural vote: nobody may abstain, so the base is everyone present: 25. Two thirds of 25, rounded up: 25 × 2 ÷ 3 = 16.67, so 17 yes votes. Yes votes: 16 < 17, 1 vote short.
Substantive vote: abstentions don’t count, so the base is the members present and voting (yes + no): 12 + 8 = 20. 5 abstentions are set aside. A simple majority of 20 is more than half: 20 ÷ 2 = 10, so 11 yes votes (a tie fails). Yes votes: 12 ≥ 11, enough to carry.
Substantive vote: abstentions don’t count, so the base is the members present and voting (yes + no): 7 + 6 = 13. 12 abstentions are set aside. A simple majority of 13 is more than half: 13 ÷ 2 = 6.5, so 7 yes votes (a tie fails). Yes votes: 7 ≥ 7, enough to carry.
Substantive vote: abstentions don’t count, so the base is the members present and voting (yes + no): 10 + 10 = 20. A simple majority of 20 is more than half: 20 ÷ 2 = 10, so 11 yes votes (a tie fails). Yes votes: 10 < 11, 1 vote short.
Security Council, substantive: 9 affirmative votes including the concurring votes of the permanent members, so no permanent member may vote no. Abstentions are allowed and don’t block it. Yes votes: 14 ≥ 9. Permanent-member no votes: 1, a veto.
Security Council, substantive: 9 affirmative votes including the concurring votes of the permanent members, so no permanent member may vote no. Abstentions are allowed and don’t block it. Yes votes: 9 ≥ 9. Permanent-member no votes: 0.
The Security Council has 15 members: five permanent (China, France, Russian Federation, United Kingdom, United States) and ten elected by the General Assembly for two-year terms. Its voting rule is written into Article 27 of the UN Charter. A procedural decision needs 9 affirmative votes. Every other decision needs 9 affirmative votes including the concurring votes of the permanent members, which is where the veto comes from.
In practice, a no from any one permanent member defeats a substantive draft, however many yes votes it has. An abstention by a permanent member does not: by long-standing Council practice, a permanent member that disagrees but does not want to block a draft abstains, and the draft passes if it has nine yes votes. Because the bar is nine yes votes rather than a share of those voting, an absent member or an abstention works against a draft just as much as a no from an elected member.
That is what this mode checks. Record a permanent member's no with “No, permanent” (or P) so the tally can apply the veto, and note that a substantive draft with nine yes votes is only settled once every member has voted, since a permanent member still to vote could block it. Some Model UN Security Council committees add their own rules, so check your conference's handbook.
Sources: UN Charter, Chapter V and Security Council voting system.
There is no single Model UN rulebook. Conferences publish their own rules of procedure, and they differ on which motions need two thirds, whether delegates can declare “present and voting”, how roll-call votes and explanations of vote work, and how crisis or specialized committees decide. This tool applies the conventions most US conferences teach and shows every step of its arithmetic, so you can check it against your handbook. If the two disagree, the handbook and the chair win. Before your first committee session, read the voting section of your conference's rules, or look it up with the search below.
Roll call, motions, caucuses, amendments and voting procedure, in the order they happen.
How many delegates must be present before the chair can open debate.
Every common motion, what it does, and the vote it needs.
Get your draft resolution formatted before it goes to a vote.
Drafts pass because their sponsors counted support in unmoderated caucus and wrote clauses the undecided could accept. Model Diplomat can explain your conference's voting rules, map which delegations are likely to back your draft, and draft clauses with the sources behind them. A free account includes 200 searches on day one, then 50 a day.