Church of England Final Voting Stats

Today the final two dioceses in the Church of England voted on the proposed Anglican Covenant. Newcastle (against) and York (for) complete the voting on a reference to the dioceses.

In total, 18 of the 44 dioceses voted for the Covenant, and 26 against. In order for a resolution to adopt the Covenant to return to the General Synod in July, a majority (23) of the dioceses would have needed to vote for it. That became mathematically impossible a few weeks ago after over 22 dioceses had voted against the Covenant.

In all, 3588 people voted in the 44 diocesan synods, including 94 bishops, 1584 clergy and 1910 laity. The bishops' votes actually did not count toward the results, but were nevertheless recorded. In order for the resolution to be adopted by any given diocesan synod, it was required to be adopted by a majority among both the clergy and the laity. Failure to secure a majority in either of those houses defeated the resolution.

If we include the bishops, a total of 49.25% of all synod members voted for the Covenant, 46.29% against, and 4.46% abstained.

Excluding the bishops, 48.43% voted for, 47.14% against, and 4.44% abstained.

Amongst the bishops, 79.79% voted for, 14.89% against and 5.32% abstained.

Amongst clergy, 46.65% voted for, 49.49% against and 3.85% abstained.

Amongst laity, 49.90% voted for, 45.19% against and 4.92% abstained.

Looking at voting by order and diocese, the bishops voted for the Covenant in 37 dioceses and against in 7.

Clergy voted for the Covenant in 18 dioceses and against in 26.

Laity voted for in 22 dioceses and against in 22.

It is clear overall that the Covenant was unable to secure majority support amongst either the clergy or the laity. The bishops voted overwhelmingly for the Covenant, although their votes did not count toward the result.