voting question.

[Guest autumnl78]

At a meeting last night a motion was made by a member, then seconded, and per the groups bylaws a verbal yay/no vote taken. The majority voted yes, there were no no votes. Today we are hitting a wall as the president, who was acting as Parlimentarian, neglected to verbally state the motion passed so it is not in our minutes as such. How should this be resolved per rr? Currently they group is attempting to table the topic and require a revote, yet others belief a motion to amend the minutes to note the vote passed in vote but was not recognized properly be noted in the amendmen Any and all help is appreciated.

Also there is some confusion as to what is an "objection" to a motion. There are several who feel that it must be made and noted prior to a vote, others feel post vote remarks are acceptable as being noted as objection.

[jstackpo]

Hold on moment here....

You had your meeting last night, right?

You are not meeting now as you type about "hitting a wall' and "attempting to table", right?

All you can do under those circumstances, RONR-wise, is nothing. You are not meeting; you can't take official action.

However, get on the phone, or get up a little delegation and go visit the President: the motion did carry, from what you said, in spite of the President's failure to say so. So tell him or her to stop procrastinating and carry out whatever the motion required to be done. If he won't, mention that a motion to censure him/her (at the next meeting, of course) can be made in New Business.

At that next meeting correct the minutes if they don't show "adoption".

Sounds like what you are calling an "objection" is actually someone debating against the adoption of a motion. Debate doesn't belong in minutes at all -- p. 468.

[Guest autumnl78]

Also, can a president/chair that per the bylaws states can not make a motion or vote, opt to table a topic period, and if so can they do this without a second and a vote upon the motion?

[jstackpo]

No to all of the above.

[Guest autumnl78]

So we just need to make a motion at the next meeting to adopt the correct to the vote correct?

[jstackpo]

Please re-read your question and try again -- thanks.

[Josh Martin]

Hold on moment here....

You had your meeting last night, right?

You are not meeting now as you type about "hitting a wall' and "attempting to table", right?

All you can do under those circumstances, RONR-wise, is nothing. You are not meeting; you can't take official action.

However, get on the phone, or get up a little delegation and go visit the President: the motion did carry, from what you said, in spite of the President's failure to say so. So tell him or her to stop procrastinating and carry out whatever the motion required to be done. If he won't, mention that a motion to censure him/her (at the next meeting, of course) can be made in New Business.

At that next meeting correct the minutes if they don't show "adoption".

Sounds like what you are calling an "objection" is actually someone debating against the adoption of a motion. Debate doesn't belong in minutes at all -- p. 468.

Couldn't it be argued that Official Interpretation 2006-18 applies here?

[jstackpo]

I suppose, but not until that next meeting rolls around.

Or did you have something else in mind?

[Guest autumnl78]

So we just need to make a motion at the next meeting to adopt the correct to the vote correct?

[Guest Edgar]

So we just need to make a motion at the next meeting to adopt the correct to the vote correct?

Please re-read your question and try again

So we just need to make a motion at the next meeting to adopt the correct to the vote correct?

I'm not sure that's what Mr. Stackpole meant by "try again" but, yes, you could suggest that the minutes be corrected to reflect the fact that the motion was adopted. If it was.

[Josh Martin]

I suppose, but not until that next meeting rolls around.

Or did you have something else in mind?

No, I certainly concur that whatever happens, it will need to wait until the next meeting.

So we just need to make a motion at the next meeting to adopt the correct to the vote correct?

Well, maybe. It's possible that the motion wasn't adopted. Official Interpretation 2006-18 states that at this point, the announcement by the chair stands, since a Point of Order would have had to be made promptly. For instance, if the chair had announced that the motion failed, this would be the result if no one corrected him, even though the announcement was in error. It could be argued that the same principle applies here. Therefore, since the chair didn't announce that the motion was adopted, and no one corrected him, the motion is not adopted. Since the chair apparently didn't make an announcement one way or the other, I believe this would suggest the motion was not finally disposed of and should be taken up under Unfinished Business.

It's hard to say for sure with the facts presented. I might be able to get a better idea if we knew exactly what the chair said after the vote was taken. It's also difficult to say whether the minutes are correct in any event, since I don't know what the minutes currently say about the subject.

If it turns out the minutes are in error, a member may propose a correction while the minutes are up for approval. These changes are normally handled by unanimous consent, but if there is disagreement, a majority vote will suffice to adopt the correction.

Also, none of this is meant to suggest that it is proper for the chair to do this. Disciplinary action may be appropriate.

[Guest Beth]

Mr Martin,

Below is the except from the secretary:

"Social chair then made a motion that the club utilize the money in the member social event fund to pay for the baseball event. Member seconded the motion. President asked for the aye vote, 6 affirmative. President asked for the nayes. Member spoke up and stated that she just thought that the club should look for something more family friendly. Discussion then started about why the baseball game was not family friendly. After a few minutes, the conversation died down and no resolution was reached. The club then started discussing the new suggestion box."

Suggestion?

[Josh Martin]

"Social chair then made a motion that the club utilize the money in the member social event fund to pay for the baseball event. Member seconded the motion. President asked for the aye vote, 6 affirmative. President asked for the nayes. Member spoke up and stated that she just thought that the club should look for something more family friendly. Discussion then started about why the baseball game was not family friendly. After a few minutes, the conversation died down and no resolution was reached. The club then started discussing the new suggestion box."

If what the minutes say is an accurate and (overly) complete record of what happened at the meeting, it looks to me that the motion was not finally disposed of and should be brought up under Unfinished Business at the next meeting. It appears the main problem is that the chair allowed someone to interrupt the taking of the vote, which is not permitted.

If this is correct, the minutes should read:

"Mr. X, on behalf of the Social Committee, moved that the club utilize the money in the member social event fund to pay for the baseball event. The motion was not disposed of."

The assembly should take care to remember that the minutes are a record of what was done, not what was said.