Is it the majority or 2/3rds of votes

[Guest Phil Protasio]

This morning a member of our Board of Education (School Board) made the motion to "revisit" a previously passed motion (several months ago). After brief discusion the vote resulted in a 5-2 yes vote. There are 9 members of the board, w/2 being absent. Another member stated that because it was a motion to revisit a previously passed motion, that it required a 2/3 vote to pass. My question: is it the majority vote or the 2/3rds vote that stands.

This is currently being clarified by our Attorney Generals office.

[jstackpo]

"Revisit" a previously adopted motion is not a parliamentary motion described by RONR. So whatever it means, and the rules that govern it, are up to you to discern.

By the way, a 5 yes to 2 no vote IS a 2/3 vote in favor. What was your "other member" thinking?

[Gary c Tesser]

John, I think it's much better when non-initiates like Guest_Phil Protasio use non-technical terms, thereby avoiding the possibility of misusing them. (How often do we see a question like Mr Protasio's, where "reconsider" is used instead of "revisit," and the first thing the myopic posters here do is rebuke the Original Poster for proposing to move a Reconsideration improperly? PLaudits to Mr Protasio, says I*)

Mr Protasio, I strongly urge you to pick up a copy of RONR-In Brief. You can, and should, read it right there (first reading). Do not delay. You don't want to be at meetings where some member can make pronouncements that you can't rebut because you don't have the grounding. (When you play the game, Know The Rules. (You can order it here on the Robert's Rules website. I prefer independent bookstores myslef, because they are the bedrock of democracy. But that's just me.) And so you don't have to ask the Attorney General's office. (Lawyers don't get taught parliamentary procedure, some of them have written.)

_______

*INternal note; not about your question, P. P. Edgar, no objection, yes?

[Trina]

This morning a member of our Board of Education (School Board) made the motion to "revisit" a previously passed motion (several months ago). After brief discusion the vote resulted in a 5-2 yes vote. There are 9 members of the board, w/2 being absent. Another member stated that because it was a motion to revisit a previously passed motion, that it required a 2/3 vote to pass. My question: is it the majority vote or the 2/3rds vote that stands.

This is currently being clarified by our Attorney Generals office.

If this was essentially a motion to rescind or amend something previously adopted, as described in RONR (11th ed.) pp. 305-310, then the vote threshold is two-thirds vote without notice OR majority vote with notice OR majority of the entire membership. Assuming there was no notice, the first or third condition would have to be satisfied. As Dr. Stackpole pointed out, 5-2 meets the requirement for a two-thirds vote. In a body with 9 members, it also happens to meet the requirement for a vote from the majority of the entire membership (5 is more than half of 9).

Unless there are some special rules governing this body, the motion passed.

Note that previously adopted motions can only be rescinded, or amended, to the extent that they have not yet been fully executed.

[Gary Novosielski]

This is currently being clarified by our Attorney Generals office.

And don't give up on that avenue either. In some states courts have held that actions of a public body may not require more than a majority vote, or that certain classes of business require a majority of the full board, or similar twisty little passages in the law. Your board's attorney may have more info.