If you attended our February Presbytery Gathering last month, you’ll recall we tried something a little different for our practice question to open the business of the meeting. The practice question is typically just a fun way to open the meeting while also making sure the body is familiar with the voting process and checking to see if the technology is working properly. Usually, the question is something silly or whimsical, like “do you like pineapple on pizza, yes or no.” At our February Zoom Gathering, however, we tried something new by asking a Polity question: “Once a Motion has been seconded, can it be withdrawn by the person who made the motion? Yes or No.”
The question was intended to be fun in a teachable way, and yet, the practice vote was decidedly split in the results. This got me thinking, and over the last couple of weeks I have been running the scenario over in my mind, perhaps as a Stated Clerk should. What I have concluded is that the question is either poorly stated or masterfully deceptive…I’ll let you decide on that. While I stand by my explanation provided at the conclusion of the vote – “No, because once a motion has been seconded, it belongs to the body,” I thought it might be helpful to flesh this out a bit as our first of what I hope to be a monthly “Spotlight for Polity” segment in our Presbytery Newsletter, offering monthly polity tips and highlights our readers may find helpful or interesting.
The actual answer comes from Robert’s Rules 12th Edition, section 33:11-19, pertaining to the rules regarding a member’s ability to “withdraw” a motion they have made. While my explanation does hold up, there are some subtle distinctions worth noting. The actual answer is that once a motion has been moved and seconded, there is still time to withdraw the motion or suggest another course of action. The moment it becomes a “pending item” belonging to the body, is when it has been stated by the Moderator, i.e. “The motion has been moved and seconded.”
The technical piece that I believe the question as stated fails to account for, is even after the motion becomes a “pending item” belonging to the body, it can still be withdrawn (the person who made the motion cannot speak against it, but can request it to be withdrawn), however, at this point, it would need majority consent, ether by vote or as RONR 33:15 suggests, the moderator should first treat it as a unanimous consent request and proceed to a vote only if someone objects. In conversation with my fellow Stated Clerks, this is a popular recommendation on how we should treat most of our business in meetings, as Presbyterians seem to spend way too much time voting on items we all agree about. And so, to conclude this month’s Spotlight for Polity, for anyone who voted on this question at the February Gathering, whether yes or no, simply put, you were right!
Rev. Dr. Brandan Eddy
Presbytery of Giddings-Lovejoy
Stated Clerk
