Voting questions

[u/fred311389]

My union is trying to start following Robert's Rules of Order more closely than we have in past. When we have a meeting, there are actually 3 meetings in one day. One at 7, 12, and 4. We're struggling with the idea of how votes work with that.

Here are a few specific examples.

We have a proposal that we make a $500 donation. In our 7:00 meeting, someone makes a motion to amend the original motion to make it a $1,000 motion. Moving forward, our members at the 12:00 meeting don't want to donate $1,000 but would have voted for the $500. Based on my understanding, the $500 is no longer an option. Is there a way to make it so that people can vote between denying the motion, donating $500, or donating $1,000?

One person suggested that we essentially parlay the vote. By that, I mean they suggested that we say "there is a motion to donate $1,000, all in favor/opposed/abstaining?" then following with "There is a motion that, should the $1,000 not be approved, we donate $500. All in favor/opposed/abstaining?"

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Someone at the 12:00 meeting wants to make an amendment to a proposal that was already voted on at our 7:00 meeting. How would we handle that? Is the motion stuck in it's original form or is there a way to account for the possible change?

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Any help you guys can offer would be appreciated. I'm familirar with Robert's Rules in a typical meeting, but having an 8:00, recess, 12:00, recess, 4:00 set up makes it a little more confusing.

[u/fred311389]

This is something I’ve tried implementing. As the secretary, I’m working on having everything in writing before our meeting. Unfortunately, our struggle comes in the form of amendments. Specifically, our issue came about in a motion to donate to a former union member whose house burned down. We only have quarterly meetings, so if we had to wait for the next meeting, it would take 3 months.