Table a motion

[Charlie Adams]

We currently have a motion and a second on the floor with one vote being recorded. This is all electronic. In our By-Laws it states that if a member feels a motion is not getting enough discussion the member can request the President table the motion until a face to face board meeting. By laws also state that the President must bring this request to the Board and ask for a second. Voting will commence until the request to table is passed our not.

Our parliamentarian says we have a motion on the floor and any other motion is unacceptable. ps Our by laws do not state one way or the other that we follow RRO.

Thanks

[jstackpo]

Explain, please, what you mean by "This is all electronic."

The answer may depend on this information.

[David A Foulkes]

We currently have a motion and a second on the floor with one vote being recorded. This is all electronic. In our By-Laws it states that if a member feels a motion is not getting enough discussion the member can request the President table the motion until a face to face board meeting. By laws also state that the President must bring this request to the Board and ask for a second. Voting will commence until the request to table is passed our not.

Our parliamentarian says we have a motion on the floor and any other motion is unacceptable. ps Our by laws do not state one way or the other that we follow RRO.

Thanks

As far as "e-meetings", per RONR they must be authorized by the bylaws and supported by special rules of order or standing rules to deal with such issues as yours. RONR deals with in-person meetings and any answer here would be based on that concept, and only generally applicable (if that) due to the nature of asynchronous electronic meetings as you have.

[Kim Goldsworthy]

We currently have a motion and a second on the floor with one vote being recorded.

This is all electronic.

• [bylaws state] that if a member feels a motion is not getting enough discussion the member can request the President table the motion until a face to face board meeting.

• [bylaws state] that the President must bring this request to the Board and ask for a second. Voting will commence until the request to table is passed our not.

Our parliamentarian says we have a motion on the floor and any other motion is unacceptable.

Since your question is NOT on Robert's Rules of Order, but rather is on the subject, "What is our customized rule?", "How do we interpret our customized rule?", "How do we obey our customized rule?" then no answer will be possible from Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised (RONR 10th ed.).

Our by laws do not state one way or the other that we follow RRO.

Huh? -- Your bylaws fail to state that you follow Robert's Rules of Order?

Then what rules of order do you "follow"?

Certainly, you are not following Robert's Rules of Order.

If you were, you wouldn't be doing things "electronically." (Absentee voting is forbidden.)

[Charlie Adams]

Explain, please, what you mean by "This is all electronic."

The answer may depend on this information.

[tctheatc]

We currently have a motion and a second on the floor with one vote being recorded. This is all electronic. In our By-Laws it states that if a member feels a motion is not getting enough discussion the member can request the President table the motion until a face to face board meeting. By laws also state that the President must bring this request to the Board and ask for a second. Voting will commence until the request to table is passed our not.

Our parliamentarian says we have a motion on the floor and any other motion is unacceptable. ps Our by laws do not state one way or the other that we follow RRO.

Thanks

That a motion is on the floor does not necessarily mean NO other motion can be made. I find the fact that it appears you are in the middle of a vote to be more compelling as to the appropriateness of another motion being made. (whether that motion is to postpone or table, I'm not sure, from what you've written)

But in any case, you've got yourselves into a non RONR situation. You've described it. But I never saw any question. As Kim notes, RONR probably won't be much help in your particular circumstances anyway.

[Charlie Adams]

Our By-Laws give our Pres, VP, Sec/Tres and board of directors the ability to conduct discussions and the ability to make motions and vote via email.

[Dan Honemann]

Our By-Laws give our Pres, VP, Sec/Tres and board of directors the ability to conduct discussions and the ability to make motions and vote via email.

That's fine, but you will need to develop your own set of rules to govern the questions of procedure which will arise as a result. The rules in Robert's Rules of Order are designed to govern proceedings of deliberative assemblies, and your board is not conducting its business as a deliberative assembly.

[Charlie Adams]

OK. So I guess the question boils down to. Can a request to table a motion be made while that particular motion is on the floor? Can you have two motions on the floor at the same time?

[jstackpo]

The answer, per RONR, is Yes, No, not two main motions, in the order you asked two questions.

But your electronic rules my be different.

[David A Foulkes]

OK. So I guess the question boils down to. Can a request to table a motion be made while that particular motion is on the floor? Can you have two motions on the floor at the same time?

There are often two or more motions on the floor at the same time. For example, many of the subsidiary motions can all be pending, on top of the main motion. But as voting has already commenced, interruptions are not allowed (except under limited circumstances), and the motion to Lay On The Table would not be in order.

Of course, all of that pertains to in-person meetings. Your e-meetings are outside the box, or book (RONR), as it were.

[Gary Novosielski]

OK. So I guess the question boils down to. Can a request to table a motion be made while that particular motion is on the floor? Can you have two motions on the floor at the same time?

A request to table a motion can ONLY be made while that motion is pending ("on the floor" as you call it), but it (or anything else) absolutely CANNOT be made once the vote on the motion has begun.

Your rules appear to exist in a perpendicular universe to Robert's Rules, and I'm afraid nothing in RONR is likely to help you answer this question. Under the rules in RONR, this situation would simply never occur.

[Josh Martin]

Can a request to table a motion be made while that particular motion is on the floor?

First of all, you are confusing the motion to Lay on the Table with the motion to Postpone to a Certain Time. See FAQ #12 for more information. Secondly, yes, the motion to Postpone to a Certain Time is in order while a main motion is pending (as is Lay on the Table, in the rare cases when that motion is appropriate), but no motions are in order during the taking of a vote.

Can you have two motions on the floor at the same time?

If the second motion takes precedence over the first, yes.

Applying rules written for in-person, synchronous meetings to an asynchronous electronic meeting, however, isn't as easy as people assume. There are situations which will arise in an "e-mail meeting" which simply do not exist in an in-person meeting. It is up to your organization to develop customized rules for how your "e-mail meetings" work. These articles may be of some assistance.

As noted in your initial post, it seems your assembly already has a customized rule on this subject (and apparently the authors of the rule also were confusing Lay on the Table with Postpone to a Certain Time). It is up to your organization to interpret its own rules. See RONR, 10th ed., pgs. 570-573 for some Principles of Interpretation.