Anglicans approve same-sex unions after stunning discovery of vote error
TORONTO — Questions about the integrity of the voting process in which Anglicans narrowly rejected a resolution to allow same-sex marriage emerged Tuesday, leading to a stunning reversal of the result that had caused anguish among many members.
A few delegates to the six-day General Synod stood up just a couple of hours before the session was to close to say their votes had not been recorded during voting late Monday — when passage of the resolution failed by a single vote.
“That is an issue of concern,” Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the church, responded. “We cannot leave this synod with this kind of confusion.”
To pass, the resolution required two-thirds approval by each of three orders — lay, clergy and bishops. The clergy failed to reach that threshold by one vote, which was apparently not counted because it was wrongly attributed to a lay member.