The working group balloting process is the means by which we build consensus and improve the quality of our draft standards.

The ballot process begins with an initial ballot. The ballot group is established at this time and consist of the voting membership of 802.11 at the time the initial ballot is started. The ballot group remains constant for the duration of the ballot series. The entire draft is open to comment during the initial ballot. An initial ballot must pass with greater than 75% approval (and meet other criteria) before it proceeds to recircuation ballot. A draft might require more than one initial ballot before it reaches this threshold.

With recirculation ballots the objective is to iteratively narrow the scope of the changes being made. Valid comments are limited to those that identify problems with text that has changed or is affected by text that is changed. The task group may (at its descretion) address out of scope comments, but the primary objective here is to covert as many Disapprove votes to Approve votes as possible by addressing the comments associated with those Disapprove votes. It is typically not possible to covert all Disapprove votes to Approve votes.

Members that are not in the ballot group may vote and submit comments on the draft. However, their vote will not count toward the ballot results. Their comments will be considered by the task group, but the group is under no obligation to address them.