In yet another vote shift that I certainly didn't expect, Charlotte presbytery, which took a voice vote "no" on 01-A in 2001-2, has now voted YES on 08-B. Many thanks to the equality supporters in Charlotte presbytery for the nice Valentine's Day present.
This is the third presbytery to vote that had previously taken a voice vote "no" in 2001-2. The first was East Tennessee, which also flipped pro-LGBT this year. The second was Wyoming presbytery, which voted no on 08-B this year. So we're two for three in shifting previous voice-voice presbyteries to a pro-equality position. That's a really good track record -- I was originally guessing that all previous "voice vote no" presbyteries would also vote no on 08-B this year.
The lesson here seems to be "count the vote, don't just do a voice vote". You never know how the vote might turn out, and even if you lose, taking an actual vote count allows equality supporters to realize that you're not alone in wanting pro-equality change.
Here are the stats that I know of for today's votes:
Charlotte presbytery:
2001-2 01-A: voice vote "no", no percentage available
2009 08-B: 133 yes, 124 no --> 52% YES
Pines presbytery:
2001-2 01-A: 31 yes, 45 no --> 41% YES
2009 08-B: 34 yes, 36 no --> 49% YES
So we have another "close, but not quite" situation in Pines, similar to Cincinnati earlier this week, however it's still a solid 8% pro-equality shift.
