Withdrawing a motion

[Guest city clerk]

If a member of an elected board who made a motion, duly seconded, wants to withdraw the motion prior to it being voted on and there is no objection from anyone on the board, is that allowable or do they need to make a motion to withdraw the orignal motion? If required to make a motion to withdraw the question, would that require a majority or 2/3 vote?

If the maker of the motion wants to withdraw the motion but the person who seconded the motion objects, I'm assuming that the motion would stand and must be voted on by the board? Is that correct? There was some confusion around this topic at our last meeting.

[George Mervosh]

Before the motion has been placed before the assembly by the chair stating the question, it may be withdrawn without the consent of the assembly or the seconder, but it may not be withdrawn without permission of the assembly by majority vote once it has been placed before the assembly for its approval.

[Guest City Clerk]

Thanks for just a quick reply. I need to ask a clarifying question. The motion I referred to was before the assembly and had been debated. The person who made the motion wanted to withdraw it but the person who seconded it objected to having it withdrawn, so the Chair put the original question to a vote. From what you are telling me, that was probably incorrect and the chair should have put the question of whether the motion could be withdrawn to a vote rather than having the assembly vote on the original motion. If I have understood this correctly, my next question would be whether the person who wanted to withdraw the motion (when objected to by the seconder or any other member of the assembly) have to put the request to withdraw in the form of a motion and have that seconded prior to a vote being taken or can the Chair just call for a vote on the request for withdrawal of the motion without the formality of someone seconding the request?

[Trina]

Thanks for just a quick reply. I need to ask a clarifying question. The motion I referred to was before the assembly and had been debated. The person who made the motion wanted to withdraw it but the person who seconded it objected to having it withdrawn, so the Chair put the original question to a vote. From what you are telling me, that was probably incorrect

Yup, that was incorrect

and the chair should have put the question of whether the motion could be withdrawn to a vote rather than having the assembly vote on the original motion. If I have understood this correctly, my next question would be whether the person who wanted to withdraw the motion (when objected to by the seconder or any other member of the assembly) have to put the request to withdraw in the form of a motion and have that seconded prior to a vote being taken or can the Chair just call for a vote on the request for withdrawal of the motion without the formality of someone seconding the request?

'If there is objection, the chair of his own accord can put the question on granting the request, or any member can move "that permission to withdraw the motion be granted." If a member other than the one making the request made the motion, it does not require a second, since the maker of the motion to grant permission and the maker of the request surely both favor it.' (RONR 11th ed. p. 297 ll. 1-7)

So, if the chair doesn't call for a vote of his own accord, and if the original motion maker is the only one who has spoken up to ask permission to withdraw, a second is technically required. Unless the group is small enough (a dozen or so members at most) to operate under small-board rules, in which case motions don't require seconds in general.

In any case, the seconder has no unilateral power to deny a request to withdraw a motion. And the seconder objecting to having the motion withdrawn certainly shouldn't have been treated as a signal to end debate and immediately vote on the motion (!)