Robert’s Rules of Order
What are your rights?
Point of Information: Use when you need something to be clarified, does not need to be acknowledged by the Chair.
Point of Order: To question if, or state that, the correct procedures are not being followed. No acknowledgment is needed.
Being Acknowledged by the Chair: This is done through a system of raising hands. There are no holding places in line and each Member will have the same opportunity to be recognized.
Motions: Motions must be seconded, debated, and then voted on.
Debate: Each motion will have a debate. Each Member has a chance to speak, but rules of debate are set by the Chair.
Amendments: Amendments are used to alter the language of the motion by either adding or subtracting words and/or phrases. They must be seconded, debated, and voted upon.
Calling the Question: Calling the question means a Member wishes to end the debate and move on to the vote. Calling the question needs to be seconded and then is immediately voted on with no debate. It must receive a 2/3rd vote to pass.
What will debate look like?
The Chair will open the debate by reading the motion that’s on the floor.
Each Member will have two (2) chances to speak per motion (i.e. an amendment is considered a new motion, separate from the main motion).
To be recognized by the Chair, the Member must raise their hand after the Chair opens the floor, or the previous Speaker states, “I end my speech.”
The Chair will acknowledge which Member gets to speak and members who were not acknowledged will put their hands down.
At the end of each speech, the Speaker must state, “I end my speech.”
The time limit for each speech is three (3) minutes.
After there are no more Members wishing to speak, or if the question is called, the Chair will begin the vote.
What will a vote look like?
We will do a raised hand vote, but will not count them.
Anyone can contest the vote for any reason. If the vote is contested we will begin to count votes by asking members to raise their hands and lower them once they have been counted. When we do a count vote, the voting threshold is determined based on the number of votes cast, therefore abstentions do not count.