2/3 = 0.66

I think Chinese people are wise to require testing for civil servants. Obviously I don't expect everyone to be a math whiz, but when your "town accountant" can't figure out two-thirds, something is seriously wrong. The newspaper reporter is pretty lame too: 137 yes votes out of 206 is still not 2/3 majority.

CapeCodTimes.com

Truro zoning decision hinges on single vote

By Mary Ann Bragg
mbragg@capecodonline.com
April 30, 2009

TRURO — Voters narrowly approved one of four zoning amendments late Tuesday night at the annual town meeting. But town officials were still looking at the exact vote count on that article yesterday.

In a vote of 136 to 70, voters passed a new time limit on how quickly a cottage colony, cabin colony, motel or hotel can be converted to condominiums. The new limit requires that those properties be in operation for three years before being converted to condominiums.

...

The exact count of the vote — 136 to 70 —had town officials hitting their calculators yesterday. The zoning measure needed a two-thirds vote to pass. A calculation by town accountant Trudy Brazil indicated that 136 votes are two-thirds of 206 total votes, said Town Clerk Cynthia Slade.

Brazil said she used the calculation of .66 multiplied by 206 to obtain the number.

But using .6666 — a more accurate version of two-thirds — the affirmative vote needed to be 137 instead of 136, according to an anonymous caller to town hall and to the Times.

Also, there are "versions" of two-thirds? It's not like they had to do this in their head... they used a calculator and still keyed in 0.66!