Recording Voice Votes?

[Daniel S.]

I recently became president of a board consisting of of 10 executive board members. Our Bylaws state that RONR should be followed during meetings. One of the items that I am trying to straighten out is what exactly documented in our minutes. One of the items that our secretary is recording is who voted for and against a particular motion. He stated to me that he feels it is his duty to record that information. It seems to me that I read in RONR somewhere that on a regular voice vote the only thing that should be recorded is rather or not the motion was adopted or defeated not whom stood where etc. I can see in RONR that the examples of minutes reflect my thinking but I cannot find a statement that specifies this.

[Hieu H. Huynh]

See RONR 11th ed., p. 469, ll. 13-25.

[George Mervosh]

The only proper way to record how each member voted for the record is via roll call vote.  RONR (11th ed.), p. 420.

Taking a vote by roll call on a particular question requires a motion adopted by majority vote and taking one on all questions requires the adoption of a special rule of order.  I doubt anything like that has been done.

Also, see the bullet on p. 470, ll. 29 to p. 471.l. 3.  

Your secretary has a duty to follow the rules in RONR and the duties prescribed in your bylaws, not made up duties.