Parliamentary Procedure Flashcards
A practice in which absent members are permitted to vote either by mail or by proxy.
Absentee voting
To desist voluntarily from voting on a question.
Abstain
An oral vote, often unanimous, usually taken after the sense of a meeting is clear and unmistakable.
Acclamation
Any motion that is applied to the principal question, and which goes with the latter when it is postponed or referred to a committee.
Adhering motion
To terminate a meeting officially.
Adjourn
Adjournment without day; it terminates a convention or conference.
Adjourn sine die
A continuation of a regular or special meeting; it is legally a part of the same meeting.
Adjourned meeting
To vote to accept or approve.
Adopt
A “yes” vote to a question; an agreement to its acceptance.
Affirmative vote
An official list containing the items of business to be considered at a meeting.
Agenda
To alter or modify a motion or question by due formal procedure.
Amend
To cancel or to render void an action previously taken.
Annul
An application to the assembly to decide whether the decision of the presiding officer on a particular question is right or wrong.
Appeal
A gathering of persons with a common purpose,; whether organized or not; it includes mass meetings as well as formally established organizations.
Assembly
An affirmative vote. It corresponds to “Yes” or “Yea.”
Aye
A ticket or a piece of paper used in voting secrecy. It also refers to the method of voting, or a round of voting, as being elected on the second or third ballot.
Ballot
A principal group that manages the affairs of an organization; it goes by different names, like board of directors, board of trustees, board of governors, and the like.
Board of management
Any matter brought before the assembly for consideration.
Business
A set of rules of an organization, ranking next to the constitution in authority and above the standing rules.
By-laws
same as agenda
Calendar of Business
A demand that the assembly conform to the order of business.
Call for orders of the day
To bring the assembly to attention for the start of business.
Call to order
One who is nominated or who offers himself as an aspirant for office or membership.
Candidate
To review the election returns.
Canvass
Approved by the necessary vote.
Carried
A meeting of leaders of a party or faction to decide on policies or candidates for an office.
Caucus
The presiding officer of the assembly.
Chair
Any development in the deliberations of the assembly that may cause it to reasonably take a different position on a question to warrant its renewal.
Change in parliamentary situation
A request to allow a member to change or alter his vote on a decided question.
Change vote
The articles or certificate of incorporation taken in connection with the law under which a corporation is organized; also the authorization from a central or parent organization to establish a branch or chapter.
Charter
To terminate all discussions on a question and to have it voted upon immediately.
Close debate
To refer a question to a committee for study, investigation, or some other purpose.
Commit
A person or a group of persons appointed or elected to investigate, report, or act for the organization.
Committee
Group appointed or elected to take charge of elections in an organization.
Committee of tellers
The entire assembly sitting and acting as in a committee for the informal and preliminary consideration of a question or questions.
Committee of the whole
A committee to whom financial matters are referred.
Committee on ways and means
The system of law developed in England, based on customs and court decisions. It is often spoken of as the unwritten law.
Common law
The system of rules developed for the government of deliberative, non-legislative bodies.
Common parliamentary procedure
A meeting for consultation or discussion.
Conference
Deliberation and examination of a question before deciding on it.
Consideration
A document containing fundamental principles in accordance with which an organized body is governed and administered.
Constitution
To meet together or to cause a body to assemble for a meeting or a similar purpose.
Convene
A meeting or assembly of delegates or representatives of associated groups for a common purpose.
Convention
A certificate or document attesting to a person’s right to attend a meeting or convention in representation of a member or a group.
Credential
Capable of being discussed.
Debatable
Discussion on a question or subject before the assembly.
Debate
A member authorized to represent an organized group and empowered to act for it.
Delegate
An assembly or body which transacts business by discussion of questions and which makes decisions by vote.
Deliberative body
Strategic devices used to delay, gain time, defer decision on a question before the assembly.
Dilatory tactics
One of a body of persons directing the affairs of an organization.
Director
A term used to describe a situation where the required number of persons present at the beginning of a meeting gradually diminishes as some members leave.
Disappearing quorum
To release or excuse a committee from considering a question; to remove the question from its jurisdiction.
Discharge a committee
Consideration of a question by the oral presentation of views of different members.
Discussion
To remove a question or business, either temporarily or permanently, from the consideration of the assembly.
Dispose of a question
To terminate its official life or existence.
Dissolve an organization
The act of counting or recounting the members voting on a question.
Division of the assembly
Splitting up of a lengthy or complex question into two or more independent parts for individual consideration.
Division of the question
To admit or receive a motion or an amendment.
Entertain
Authority of a person to hold an office by virtue of his official position.
Ex-officio
The principal committee of an organization; it usually conducts business for the organization during intervals between meetings.
Executive Board
To rescind and express strong disapproval to an action previously taken by the assembly by erasing or blotting it out from the records of the organization.
Expunge
To employ dilatory tactics, such as speaking endlessly, to obstruct or prevent action on a question.
Filibuster
A method of voting where each item is treated and voted upon independently, one after the other.
Filling blanks
Figuratively, the right of a member to speak to the assembly. Once a member is recognized by the Chair, he is said to have the floor, and is the only one allowed to speak.
Floor
A mallet used by the presiding officer to open and close meetings and to maintain order.
Gavel
Also called “unanimous consent,” it is an informal method of disposing of routine and generally favored questions by the Chair; the assembly’s approval is taken for granted, and no formal vote is taken on the question, unless an objection is raised.
General consent
Pertaining or relating directly to, or having direct bearing upon a subject. It is applied to describe the relationship of amendments to the principal question or amendments of the first degree.
Germane
A meeting to listen to ideas or arguments for the formulation of decisions or recommendations in connection with a question before the assembly.
Hearing
One upon whom is bestowed office or membership by reason of his eminence or position.
Honorary officer or member
A vote which cannot be counted because of its failure to comply with some rules of the organization.
Illegal vote
When several questions are pending, the one last proposed is the immediate pending question; it must, however, be decided ahead of the others.
Immediate pending question
When a person is nominated or elected in his :,absence, he is nominated or elected in absentia.
In absentia
Motions which arise incidentally out of a question or business pending before the assembly.
Incidental motions
Impropriety of behavior. Speech or action that violates the rules of parliamentary procedure or the conventions of civility.
Indecorum
A method of deliberating upon questions without observing the rules of formal debate.
Informal consideration
In conformity or in accordance with parliamentary rules.
In order
A question directed to the Chair by a member.
Inquiry
Applied to propositions which can be stated only in one way, and are, therefore, not capable of being amended or modified.
Invariable form
Not pertinent or not applicable to a particular question.
Irrelevant
To defer action on a question until a later but undetermined time.
Lay on the table
A valid vote.
Legal vote
A representative body with constitutional authority to enact laws.
Legislative body
restrict the discussion on a question, either by limiting the number of speakers, the speaking time of each, or the time allotted for discussions.
Limit debate
A practice by which some members agree to assist others in the passage of certain motions in consideration of similar assistance from them in return; used opprobriously.
Log-rolling
A subject formally proposed to the assembly for its consideration.
Main motion
The greater or larger part of a group or number; also the ruling party or the group whose votes prevail in the decision of a question
Majority
The larger part of the votes cast; usually, one-half plus one of the legal votes, unless otherwise defined,
Majority vote
A general assembly open to everyone.
Mass meeting
An assemblage of the members of an organization during which there is unbroken deliberation except for brief periods of recess; it is terminated upon it’s adjournment.
Meeting
A member who has satisfactorily complied with all his obligations in the organization.
Member in good standing
The smaller number of two aggregates usually less than half of the members or votes. Also the group having less than the number of votes necessary to control decisions of the assembly.
Minority
The official record of the motions presented to the assembly and its actions thereon. Generally, a record of the deliberations of the assembly.
Minutes
A formal proposal in a deliberative assembly.
Motion
A vote against a proposition.
Negative vote
Any question brought before the assembly other than an unfinished matter or question.
New business
The formal proposal of a person as a candidate for an office.
Nomination
Formal notification of a fact or an intention, served on the members by the organization, or by a member on the assembly.
Notice
To oppose discussion on or consideration of a main motion.
Object to consideration
A regularly organized party, usually opposed to the policies of the party in power.
Opposition
Program of business for a particular meeting in which the questions to be taken up are arranged in the order of their consideration.
Order of business
Not in conformity with, or in violation of parliamentary rules.
Out of order
One skilled in parliamentary practice; an adviser on parliamentary procedure.
Parliamentarian
A book or manual formally adopted by an organization as its official guide on parliamentary procedure, to govern all matters not covered by the Constitution, by-laws, and other rules of the organization.
Parliamentary authority
The body of rules and precedents by which deliberative assemblies govern their proceedings
Parliamentary law
Customary methods of parliamentary procedure that have become established as rules.
Parliamentary practice
The manner or method of conducting business in a deliberative assembly in accordance with parliamentary law and practices.
Parliamentary procedure
Any motion or question that has not yet been disposed of by the assembly.
Pending question
Private material gain which a member may derive from the decision on a question by the assembly.
Personal interest
The right of a person as a member of an organization.
Personal privilege
A vote in excess of those for any other proposition, or candidate for the same office, especially over the number for the next opponent; it may be less than a majority.
Plurality vote
Technically, a motion to call attention to an error in the observance or enforcement of parliamentary rules or those of the organization it is, at the same time, a demand that such error be corrected.
Point of order
Voting or registration of votes at an election; the votes thus registered or voted; also the place where they are registered or voted; used in the plural.
Poll
To defer consideration of a question until a specific time.
Postpone definitely
To defer indefinitely the consideration of a question; it is tantamount to the suppression of the question.
Postpone indefinitely
Another form of referring to the motion to lay on the table.
Postpone temporarily
The introductory part of a constitution; also the introduction preceding a resolution, stating its purpose or the reason for its proposal.
Preamble
The priority of one motion over another in proposal and consideration.
Precedence
Customary title of heads of organizations.
President
One who presides over a meeting, like the president, chairman, speaker, or moderator. The term, however, is ascribed to any member who, without being elected to any office, is called upon to preside over the proceedings of the assembly.
Presiding officer
A motion to close debate on a question and to have it voted upon forthwith. It is also referred to as the motion to vote immediately.
Previous question
Any question involving the right of the assembly.
Privilege of the assembly
The class of motions having the highest precedence or priority.
Privileged motions or questions
Any motion that deals with parliamentary procedure as distinguished from one involving a substantive proposition.
Procedural motion
Any development during the consideration of a question that would reasonably justify the renewal or reintroduction of a motion. A change in parliamentary situation.
Progress in debate
One who proposes or introduces a motion for the consideration of the assembly. The same as proponent.
Proposer
Any question brought before the assembly for its consideration; it may be a motion, resolution, report, or other kind of proposal.
Proposition
Any signed statement authorizing a person to vote or to act for and in behalf of another; also the person so deputized.
Proxy
The act of submitting a question to a vote; the taking of a vote on a question.
Putting the question
Any proposition submitted to the assembly for consideration.
Question
A motion, actually a request, involving the rights, comfort, security, or convenience of the assembly or of any of its members.
Question of privilege
The number of members required by the rules of an organization to be resent at a meeting for the valid transaction of business.
Quorum
Motion to allow one to read a paper or of document as part of a speech or debate.
Read papers
A short break or brief intermission during a meeting.
Recess
Formal acknowledgment by the Chair indicating that a member has the floor.
Recognition
To refer back a question to the same committee or to refer it to another one.
Recommit
A motion to rescind the action of the assembly on a previously decided question, and to have it rediscussed and voted upon anew.
Reconsider
To submit a question to a committee for study or other action; the same as the motion to commit.
Refer to a committee
A standing or regular committee in a convention to which are referred all motions dealing with a particular subject.
Reference committee
Any committee created by the by-laws of an organization to which questions dwelling on specific subjects are referred for study or action.
Regular committee
Meetings held at regular intervals as provided in the by-laws of the organization.
Regular meetings
To present the same motion for the second or subsequent time at the same meeting or session, and for the same purpose.
Renew a motion
To annul or void a previous action or decision.
Repeal
A mode of repeal by which a subsequent measure annuls a previous one if both deal with the same subject and contain conflicting provisions; opposite of express repeal.
Repeal by implication
To repeal or nullify.
Rescind
A formal written proposal submitted to the assembly for consideration; the same as motion.
Resolution
Debate which is limited only to certain phases of a question, as distinguished from a full debate.
Restricted debate
To take up for consideration a question which has been previously laid on the table or postponed temporarily. It is another term for the motion to take from the table.
Resume consideration
A method of voting by which members are asked to stand to be counted.
Rising vote
A part of the order of business, consisting of the calling of a list of names of the members to find out who are present or absent.
Roll call
Another method of voting by which members signify their vote as each name is called.
Roll call vote
Decision of the Chair on a question or a point of order.
Ruling
An indication of approval or expression of support to a motion or question as a necessary preliminary to further discussion of the proposition or to a vote on it.
Second
An officer of the organization or of any of its committee whose principal function is to take and keep full record of the minutes of its meetings.
Secretary
A minor officer of the organization whose duty is to maintain order in an assembly, under the direction of the presiding officer.
Sergeat-at-arms
The procedure of considering any report, resolution, document, or paper by sections or paragraphs.
Seriatim
A committee created to perform a special task for the assembly; it is automatically dissolved after the completion of its work.
Special committee
A meeting called to consider certain specific business as set forth in the call.
Special meeting
A class of main motions but with specific names and special rules, unlike general main motions.
Specific main motion
Another name for a regular committee.
Standing committee
Rules formulated and adopted by an organization for its particular needs.
Standing rules
A law enacted by a legislative body.
Statute
Any motion designed to modify or dispose of a question, temporarily or permanently.
Subsidiary motion
A motion which presents a concrete proposal for the consideration of the assembly; it is the opposite of procedural motion.
Substantive motion
To cause the defeat of a motion without the benefit of a vote.
Suppress a motion
Motion to set aside a rule of the organization or to make it temporarily inoperative.
Suspend the rules
To resume consideration of a question previously laid on the table.
Take from the table
Anything´ on which the score of an election is recorded, usually by the system of notches.
Tally
A member of a committee assigned to conduct an election by ballot.
Teller
A vote in which the affirmative and negative are equal in number; a deadlock.
Tie vote
A decision without any adverse or dissenting vote.
Unanimous vote
An informal method of disposing of routine and generally favored motions or questions; the same as general consent.
Unanimous consent
Any business that has been left unterminated at, or postponed from a previous meeting
Unfinished business
A vote taken orally or by word of mouth with those voting affirmatively, saying “Aye” and those voting negatively, saying “No.”
Viva voce vote
Any organization that is nongovernmental in character and which members may join by choice; also known as common organization.
Voluntary organization
Motion to close debate and take a vote on the question at once; also known as motion for the previous question.
Vote immediately
Act of expressing disgust over the proceedings in a deliberative body by leaving the session hall before adjournment.
Walkout
Expressions used when voting by roll call; “yea” expresses affirmation, “nay” means dissent.
Yeas and nays
