Boy, that could make it really hard to get a special resolution up. In the ACT it is defined differently and a bit easier to pass. Here a special resolution requires both a) a majority in favour, and b) fewer than 1/3 opposed, of those present and entitled to vote, in person or by proxy. Thus, in our case, we have 105 owners but 5 neither show up nor put in a proxy vote, so 100 people are ‘present’ at the meeting, 51 vote yes, 33 vote no, and the rest abstain and the motion would pass (33 is less than a third of 100). On the other hand, if 21 don’t show up or put in a proxy vote, there would be 84 people at the meeting, 51 vote yes, 33 vote no, it would fail (33 is more than a third of 84). The proxy/absentee voting forms we use have yes/no/abstain options on them for each motion because it is quite possible that a member would want to vote yes or no on some motions but abstain on others, perhaps not caring either way, or perhaps not objecting strongly enough to want to prevent a motion passing if a majority support it.