time of vote change

[Guest ryno]

I want to find out what would be considered okay to do on an increasingly complicated situation. This is a church. We had a special meeting called to address an issue. In the call the motion was stated, "moved to [bla bla]" and that we would have discussion on this motion on Monday, March xx and hold another meeting for the vote on Sunday, March xx. So...at the first meeting (monday), the motion was amended to read, "moved to [bla bla] and that the vote be held on Sunday, March xx without debate." This motion passed (and in itself, is a bit non-traditional/odd).

Since that time, the committee who made the motion has been getting complaints that the vote shouldn't be on Sunday. They wanted to know if we could change the date to say, Monday, March xx. What would the options be, if any to change?

First thoughts: 1) We could give previous notice to Amend the Motion Previously Adopted by striking out "Sunday, March xx" and inserting the words, "Monday, March xx." 2) Or, since the motion itself is a bit odd, we could clean it all up and give notice to rescind the amendment "...vote be held Sunday..." and make a motion to "Move to vote on the motion "moved to [bla bla]" on Monday, March xx."

Now, I believe these two options would be fine if we gave previous notice and then used the time Sunday to vote. But, to throw a huge stretch into Robert's Rules, since part of the issue on this is that most folks don't want to handle this on a Sunday morning...we wondered if we could, via email, say, "if there are no objections we will [insert either option 1) or 2)]" Thereby, moving the vote to Monday, March xx by unanimous consent over email.

So, would all or any of these options make Robert role over in his grave? And please be nice...I know this sounds very crazy.

[tctheatc]

I want to find out what would be considered okay to do on an increasingly complicated situation. This is a church. We had a special meeting called to address an issue. In the call the motion was stated, "moved to [bla bla]" and that we would have discussion on this motion on Monday, March xx and hold another meeting for the vote on Sunday, March xx. So...at the first meeting (monday), the motion was amended to read, "moved to [bla bla] and that the vote be held on Sunday, March xx without debate." This motion passed (and in itself, is a bit non-traditional/odd).

Since that time, the committee who made the motion has been getting complaints that the vote shouldn't be on Sunday. They wanted to know if we could change the date to say, Monday, March xx. What would the options be, if any to change?

First thoughts: 1) We could give previous notice to Amend the Motion Previously Adopted by striking out "Sunday, March xx" and inserting the words, "Monday, March xx." 2) Or, since the motion itself is a bit odd, we could clean it all up and give notice to rescind the amendment "...vote be held Sunday..." and make a motion to "Move to vote on the motion "moved to [bla bla]" on Monday, March xx."

Now, I believe these two options would be fine if we gave previous notice and then used the time Sunday to vote. But, to throw a huge stretch into Robert's Rules, since part of the issue on this is that most folks don't want to handle this on a Sunday morning...we wondered if we could, via email, say, "if there are no objections we will [insert either option 1) or 2)]" Thereby, moving the vote to Monday, March xx by unanimous consent over email.

You cannot use e-mail to hold a meeting or vote unless it's specifically authorized in your bylaws; it's not contained in RONR.

Your first thought to amend something previously adopted seems off base as you have not adopted anything yet. There's been no vote, far as I can tell. You want to change the call, not something previously adopted. If the time of the meeting is not convenient, you could have the (inconvenient) meeting at the designated time, and perhaps only a few show, you could move to fix the time to adjourn, and use the more convenient time the members want.

As a suggestion, if you did things IAW RONR (by that I mean have the meeting for the stated business, debate it AND VOTE at the one meeting) you would avoid these problems. The problem seems to be from an odd custom of not voting after you've discussed the issue.

[David A Foulkes]

Now, I believe these two options would be fine if we gave previous notice and then used the time Sunday to vote. But, to throw a huge stretch into Robert's Rules, since part of the issue on this is that most folks don't want to handle this on a Sunday morning...we wondered if we could, via email, say, "if there are no objections we will [insert either option 1) or 2)]" Thereby, moving the vote to Monday, March xx by unanimous consent over email.

There's a lot about this situation which is unusual, which is merely to say it's outside the norm of how most issues are handled (procedurally) by a typical deliberative assembly, but you already know that, so I'll leave it to others to dissect all that.

Unless your bylaws permit conducting business via email, you can't. If they do, your org is responsible for figuring out how to manage all that. Otherwise, you can't accomplish what you're attempting in this manner. I'm not entirely sure the schedule of your meetings has been appropriately set, but at this point it would seem you have to at least hold your Sunday meeting, at which time a motion to create an adjourned meeting to Monday could be adopted. But that action must take place in the context of a meeting, so it looks like at the very least Sunday is still on. Stay tuned for more insights.

So, would all or any of these options make Robert role over in his grave? And please be nice...I know this sounds very crazy.

I'd think yes.

[tctheatc]

...make a motion to "Move to vote on the motion "moved...

That's just too much moving around...

[David A Foulkes]

As a suggestion, if you did things IAW RONR

IAW?

[tctheatc]

in accordance with

[Tim Wynn]

I want to find out what would be considered okay to do on an increasingly complicated situation. This is a church. We had a special meeting called to address an issue. In the call the motion was stated, "moved to [bla bla]" and that we would have discussion on this motion on Monday, March xx and hold another meeting for the vote on Sunday, March xx. So...at the first meeting (monday), the motion was amended to read, "moved to [bla bla] and that the vote be held on Sunday, March xx without debate." This motion passed (and in itself, is a bit non-traditional/odd).

You can't vote to limit debate ahead of time, by adopting a motion to prevent debate at the following meeting/session.

The call of a special meeting only sets the parameters of what business can be transacted in the meeting. The call of a special meeting does not set rules for how a motion will be debated and put to a vote.

When a motion is being considered, after debate has closed, it is put to a vote... unless the motion is temporarily disposed of, e.g., postponed or referred to a committee. If the assembly doesn't want to vote right there in that meeting, it can postpone the question to the next meeting. At the next meeting, if it still doesn't want to vote, it can postpone it again to the next meeting. Debate can only be limited by a two-thirds vote (or unanimous consent) inside the meeting where the limitation on debate will take place.

If you postpone the question to Monday, the assembly of the Monday meeting is free to amend it, debate it, postpone it, refer it to a committee, or put it to a vote. You simply can't tell a later session how it must proceed in handling a motion.