Primary amendments

What a primary amendment changes

A motion is a formal proposal that the board take a specific action. Once it is on the floor, any director can propose to change its wording, that is an amendment. When the change targets the main motion itself, it is a primary amendment.

Say the main motion is "spend $3,000 to repave the lot." A primary amendment might change the figure to $2,500, or add scope: "repave the lot and restripe it." If a director then proposes to change that amendment before the board has voted on it, that second layer is a secondary amendment, a change to the change.

Why the maker does not get the final word

Boards often assume that once a motion is on the floor, the person who made it can simply agree to a tweak and move on. That is not how it works. Once the chair has stated the motion, it belongs to the board, not to whoever proposed it.

"Any amendment, 'friendly' or otherwise, must be adopted by the full body, either by a vote or by unanimous consent."

Source: Robert's Rules of Order, Official FAQ, The Robert's Rules Association

So a primary amendment always needs the board's approval, formally or by unanimous consent when nobody objects. See friendly amendments for what to do when the maker likes the change.

How the board decides it

A primary amendment is voted on before the underlying motion, since the board needs to know what it is actually voting on. Approving it usually takes a majority, more than half the votes cast, not fifty percent plus one. An abstention is not a vote against it, it is a refusal to vote, and it does not count toward the total either way.

Some governing documents set a different threshold for amendments than plain Robert's Rules default. Check your bylaws before assuming a simple majority applies.

Primary versus secondary, and what is not covered here

Primary and secondary amendments are two layers of the same idea: a primary amendment changes the main motion, a secondary amendment changes that primary amendment. Only one of each can be pending at a time, and a secondary amendment has to be resolved before the primary amendment underneath it can be finalized, simply because you cannot vote on a change to something that has not itself been settled.

Where a primary amendment ranks against every other kind of motion, and the full order for which one the board can raise at a given moment, is set out in the parliamentary authority your documents adopt. That order is not reproduced here. Keep the quick reference guide or the book of record nearby rather than relying on memory.