Robert's Rules of Order Motions: A Cheat Sheet for Real Boards

What a Motion Actually Is

A motion is a proposal that the group take a specific action. Nothing gets decided at a meeting run under Robert's Rules until somebody moves it, somebody seconds it, the group debates it, and the chair puts it to a vote. Everything else, the discussion, the concerns, the good ideas, is preamble.

Most boards know that much. Where meetings fall apart is the second layer: which motions can interrupt which, what can be debated, what takes a two-thirds vote instead of a majority, and what "table it" actually does. This page is the chart you can print and put in front of the chair.

This is a plain-language summary of Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised. Your bylaws can and often do modify these rules. When your bylaws and Robert's Rules disagree, your bylaws win.

The Cheat Sheet

Motions are listed in order of precedence, highest first. A motion higher on this list can be made while a lower one is pending. A motion lower on the list cannot.

Incidental motions

These have no fixed rank. They arise out of whatever is pending and are decided immediately.

Motions that bring a question back

Reconsider has a catch that trips people up: it can only be moved by someone who voted on the prevailing side, and only within the same meeting or the next day of a convention.

The Four Classes, in One Paragraph Each

Main motions introduce new business. Only one can be on the floor at a time, and it ranks lowest, which is why every other class can interrupt it.

Subsidiary motions do something to the main motion: change it, delay it, send it to committee, cut off debate, or set it aside. They are the working tools of a meeting.

Privileged motions have nothing to do with the pending question but are urgent enough to interrupt it anyway. Adjourning, taking a recess, and raising a question of privilege because nobody can hear the speaker are the common ones.

Incidental motions raise a procedural question about how business is being conducted. A point of order is the one you will use.

How to Make a Motion

• 1Get recognized. Wait for the chair to call on you.

• 2State the motion. "I move that the association approve the reserve study proposal from Anderson Engineering for $4,200." Be specific enough that it could be copied into the minutes verbatim, because it will be.

• 3Wait for a second. If nobody seconds, the motion dies without discussion and without prejudice.

• 4Let the chair restate it. Once the chair says "It is moved and seconded that...", the motion belongs to the group, not to you. You cannot withdraw it unilaterally after that point.

• 5Debate. The mover speaks first if they want to. The chair alternates between speakers for and against.

• 6Vote. The chair puts the question, announces the result, and states what happens next.

Step 4 is the one most boards skip, and skipping it is how meetings end with two people arguing about what was actually voted on.

The Four Motions Boards Get Wrong

"I move to table this"

Lay on the table is meant to set a question aside temporarily so the group can handle something urgent that just came up. It is not a way to kill a proposal, and it is not a way to defer something to next month. It is not debatable, which is exactly why it gets abused: a member who does not want a discussion to happen moves to table, and the discussion ends without anyone having to argue the merits.

If you want to kill it, move to postpone indefinitely. If you want to take it up next month, move to postpone to a certain time. Both are debatable, which is the point.

"Question!"

Shouting "question" from your seat does not end debate. Closing debate requires a motion for the previous question, a second, and a two-thirds vote. That threshold is deliberate. Cutting off debate takes away a right that every member has, so it takes more than a bare majority to do it.

"Point of order" as a way to disagree

A point of order says a rule is being broken. It is not a way to say you disagree with the speaker or think the idea is bad. Use it when the chair lets someone speak twice before others have spoken once, when a motion requiring a second gets discussed without one, or when the group is about to vote on something the bylaws do not allow.

Voting on a motion nobody wrote down

If the exact words of the motion were never captured, you will not be able to record it accurately in the minutes, and the record of your decision becomes whatever the secretary remembers. Have the mover state it, have the chair repeat it, and have the secretary read it back before the vote if there is any doubt.

Where Motions Meet Electronic Voting

Robert's Rules assumes people are in a room. Most boards now run at least part of their business outside one, and that is where procedure and technology have to fit together.

Two rules survive the move online intact. First, the decision still needs a clearly worded question, because a ballot is just a motion in written form. Second, the result still needs a record: what was proposed, who was eligible, how many voted, and what the outcome was.

What changes is the counting. When an election or a bylaw amendment goes to the full membership rather than the board, a show of hands stops being practical and an electronic ballot with a verified roster does the work instead. The chart above still governs how the board decides to put the question to members. It does not govern how the members answer it.

For the specific question of whether your board can decide something over email instead of in a meeting, see can a board vote by email.

FAQ

Q: Does a motion always need a second?

No. Motions made on behalf of a committee do not need a second, because the committee already represents more than one person. Points of order, parliamentary inquiries, calls for the orders of the day, and demands for a division of the assembly do not need one either. Most other motions do.

Q: What is the difference between tabling a motion and postponing it?

Lay on the table sets a question aside temporarily with no set time to return to it, and it is not debatable. Postpone to a certain time sets it aside until a stated meeting or hour, and it is debatable and amendable. If your intent is "let us deal with this next month," postponing is the correct motion.

Q: How many votes does it take to close debate?

Two-thirds of those voting. Closing debate removes a member's right to speak, so Robert's Rules requires more than a simple majority.

Q: Can the chair make a motion?

In a small board of about a dozen members or fewer, Robert's Rules relaxes several formalities and the chair may make motions and vote. In a large assembly the chair should stay neutral, and does not make motions or debate while presiding.

Q: Do abstentions count as votes?

No. An abstention is a refusal to vote, so it is not counted for or against. It does still count toward quorum, because the member is present. The practical effect is that abstaining lowers the number of votes needed to pass a motion.

Q: What happens if a motion gets no second?

It dies for lack of a second. Nothing is recorded except, in most cases, nothing at all: a motion that was never seconded is generally not entered in the minutes.

Q: Can we adopt our own rules instead of Robert's Rules?

Yes. Most bylaws name a parliamentary authority, and many organizations adopt special rules of order that modify it. Whatever your bylaws say controls. Robert's Rules fills the gaps your own rules leave open.

The Bottom Line

Robert's Rules is not there to make meetings formal. It is there so that the person in the minority still gets heard and the person in the majority still gets a decision. Almost every dispute we see after a contested vote traces back to one of four things: an unclear motion, debate cut off without a two-thirds vote, a motion tabled to avoid an argument, or a record too thin to prove what happened.

Get the wording right, use the correct motion for what you actually want, and keep a record that would satisfy a member who was not in the room.

When the decision goes to your whole membership rather than the board, a written ballot with a verified roster is what turns a motion into a defensible result. Elections on vote.direct start at $4.99 and cover up to 50 voters, with counting and a downloadable record included.

Not sure which motion or method fits what you are trying to decide? Call or text us at (512) 222-8191. A real person will walk through it with you.