Withdrawing a motion

Your motion, until the chair repeats it

A motion starts as one director's proposal. Between the moment it is made and the moment the chair states the question, restating it to the board as the item now open for discussion, nobody else has claimed it. If the director who made it changes their mind, they simply say so. No vote, no permission, no waiting for a second.

On most HOA boards a second is not even a formal gate to begin with, so this early window is even less formal than it sounds. Whether the room wants to talk about a proposal is usually obvious right away, which is part of why a small board rarely needs to treat withdrawal at this stage as a procedural event at all.

After the chair states it, it belongs to the board

The moment the chair states the question, ownership shifts. The motion is no longer just the maker's idea, it is the item the whole board is now considering. Robert's Rules treats this shift the same way for changes to a motion's wording as it does for the motion itself:

"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

Withdrawal runs on the same underlying rule. A director cannot unilaterally change or remove a motion that the board is already considering. Pulling it back after that point needs the board's consent too, usually through unanimous consent rather than a formal roll call vote.

How small boards actually do this

In practice, most HOA boards do not run a vote just to let someone take a motion back. The maker says, "I'd like to withdraw that," and the chair asks whether anyone objects. Silence is treated as consent, and the board moves on. Formal association meetings lean toward this kind of informality on purpose:

"Excessive formality in a small board setting can slow discussion, discourage participation, and shift attention away from the substance."

Source: Board Meetings Aren't Annual Meetings: Three Common Meeting Myths, Jim Slaughter, CAI / HOAresources

Your own bylaws sit above Robert's Rules in authority, so if they spell out a different process for withdrawing a motion, that process controls, check your governing documents before assuming the informal version applies. For the exact mechanics your adopted parliamentary authority uses when someone does object, that detail is not something this page covers; your board's parliamentary authority is the place to look.