Every motion in your minutes needs five parts: who moved it, who seconded it (if your board records seconders), the motion as the chair stated it, the vote, and the result. Record a split vote by name, with ayes, nays, abstentions and absences. Record failed motions too. And when you can't tell from the recording who seconded, flag it and confirm it before the board approves the minutes. Don't guess.
If you have ever rewound a recording three times trying to hear who said "second," this post is for you.
Most of a set of minutes can be a little loose. Nobody files a complaint because the summary of a budget discussion left out a point. The motions and votes are different. They are the part people actually come back to check: the resident who wants to know how their member voted, the auditor matching a payment to an approval, the attorney reading the record of a zoning decision, and the clerk who replaces you in ten years.
The good news is that motions are the most formulaic part of the minutes. Get the formula right once, write it down, and every board you staff can use it.
What goes in every motion?
Five parts, in the same order, every time:
- The mover. The member who made the motion, by name.
- The seconder. If your board records seconders (more on that below).
- The motion. What the board voted on, in the words the chair stated before the vote. Include the specifics that make it usable later: the dollar amount, the vendor, the parcel, the ordinance or resolution number.
- The vote. "Unanimous" if it was, or each member's vote by name if it wasn't.
- The result. Carried or failed, with the count.
Here is the same motion written two ways. This is an illustrative example, not from a real meeting.
Before: After discussion, the board agreed to go with the low bid for the paving project.
After: Motion by Member Patel, second by Member Grant, to award the 2026 street paving contract to Delta Paving Company in the amount of $184,500 and authorize the Chair to sign the contract. Roll call: Whitfield, aye; Reyes, aye; Cho, nay; Patel, aye; Grant, aye. Motion carried 4 to 1.
The first version tells you the mood. The second tells you what the board authorized, who voted for it, and who disagreed. Only the second one is a usable record.
A template you can copy into your house style guide:
Motion by [Title Name], second by [Title Name], to [action, with amount, party, and document number].
Unanimous: Motion carried [5 to 0].
Split or roll call: Ayes: [names]. Nays: [names]. Abstaining: [names]. Absent: [names]. Motion [carried / failed] [3 to 1].
How should you record the vote?
If every member present voted yes, "Motion carried unanimously" or "carried 5 to 0" is often enough. The moment one member votes differently, write the vote out by name. Open meetings laws differ by state. Iowa Code § 21.3(2), for example, requires minutes to show "the results of each vote taken and information sufficient to indicate the vote of each member present." Your state may ask for less, or for more; check your statute. Even where a by-name tally is not required, a close vote is the first thing anyone asks about.
Three distinctions trip people up:
- Absent is not abstaining. A member who left the room before the vote is absent for that vote. Note when members arrive and leave so the vote lines add up.
- An abstention is not a no. Record it as its own category. If the member stated a reason, such as a conflict of interest, record that the member abstained and the stated reason, in a few words.
- The count should match the attendance. If five members are present and the vote reads 3 to 1, the minutes should account for the fifth.
What about amendments and failed motions?
Amendments. Record the amendment as its own motion with its own vote, then the main motion "as amended" with its vote. Readers should be able to see what changed and that the board voted on the final version.
Motion by Member Reyes, second by Member Cho, to amend the motion to reduce the amount to $160,000. Amendment carried 5 to 0. The motion as amended carried 5 to 0.
Failed motions. Record them. A motion that fails is still an action the body took, and it is often the one people come looking for later. Same five parts, ending in "Motion failed."
Motions that die for lack of a second. Many boards note these in one line ("Motion by Member Grant to table the item died for lack of a second") so the record shows the item came up. Whatever you do, do it the same way every time.
Do you have to record who seconded?
Not under Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised, if that is your body's parliamentary authority. RONR says the mover of a main motion should be named in the minutes, but the seconder should not, unless the assembly orders it. A second only means "let's discuss this," not "I support it."
That is parliamentary practice, not a uniform open meetings rule. Plenty of bodies still record the seconder by custom, local rules, or a fuller state statute. Either approach can be right. What isn't fine is doing it for the council and not the planning commission, or some months and not others. Match your law and rules, write it into your house style, and apply it to every board.
What if you can't hear who seconded?
This is the most common gap in a motion, and the most tempting one to fill with a guess. Someone off-mic says "second," the chair moves on, and the video shows the back of three heads.
Don't guess. A guessed name reads exactly like a confirmed one, and once the board approves the minutes, the guess is the official record. Instead:
- Mark the spot in your draft with the time in the recording.
- Ask the chair or the member before the draft goes in the packet.
- Going forward, ask the chair to repeat the seconder's name before calling the vote: "Moved by Member Patel, seconded by Member Grant. All in favor?" It takes three seconds and solves the problem at the source.
A two-minute check before the draft goes out
- Every motion has a mover, the motion language and a result.
- Seconders are recorded (or not) the same way for every board.
- Every split vote lists members by name.
- Each vote count matches who was present at that point in the meeting.
- Amounts, vendors and document numbers match the packet.
- No name in a motion is a guess.
Where Govably fits
This is the part of the minutes Govably was built around. You paste a link to your meeting recording, and Govably writes out each motion in full: who moved it, who seconded it, the motion language, every member's vote by name and the result, in your house style. VoicePrint names each board member, so movers, seconders and roll-call votes land on the right person. When the seconder isn't clear in the recording, Govably flags that spot and shows you the moment instead of guessing. Click any line and the video jumps to it. You check it, fix it in the document editor and approve it. Nothing is official until you do.
For what else the law expects your minutes to contain, see what the law actually requires your minutes to contain. For correcting a motion after the board has approved the minutes, see approving and amending minutes.
Frequently asked questions
What should a motion in the minutes include?
Five parts: who made the motion, who seconded it if your board records seconders, the motion as the chair stated it, the vote, and the result. Write the motion in the board's own words, not a paraphrase, and include the specifics that make it enforceable later, such as the dollar amount, the vendor, the parcel or the ordinance number. If the vote was split, record how each member voted by name.
Do meeting minutes have to record who seconded a motion?
Not under Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised, if that is your parliamentary authority: the seconder's name should not be entered unless the assembly orders it. Open meetings laws and local rules differ. Many bodies still record the seconder by custom or their own rules. Match your statute and house style, then do it the same way for every board you staff.
How do you record a split vote in the minutes?
List each member's vote by name: ayes, nays, abstentions and anyone absent, then the count and the result, for example "Motion carried 3 to 1, with one abstention." Requirements differ by state. Iowa Code § 21.3(2), for example, requires information sufficient to indicate the vote of each member present. Elsewhere the statute may ask for less. Even without a legal mandate, a by-name record answers the first question anyone asks about a close vote.
Should a failed motion go in the minutes?
Yes. A motion that fails is still an action the body took, and it is often the one people come looking for later, for example when a resident wants to know whether the board ever voted on a proposal. Record it with the same five parts as a motion that carried: mover, seconder if you record them, the motion, the vote by name if it was split, and the result, "Motion failed."
What if I can't tell from the recording who seconded the motion?
Don't guess. Mark the spot in your draft, note the time in the recording, and ask the chair or the member before the minutes go to the board. A guessed name reads exactly like a confirmed one, and once the board approves the minutes, the guess becomes the official record. Going forward, it helps to ask the chair to say the seconder's name aloud before calling the vote.
Sources: Iowa Code § 21.3(2) (Iowa Code 2026); Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised (11th ed., p. 470) on recording the mover and seconder, as summarized by Michigan State University Extension. Open meetings statutes differ by state; RONR applies only where your body has adopted it. Examples in this post are illustrative, not from real meetings. This post is practical guidance, not legal advice. Check your own state's open meetings law, your board's rules of procedure, and your attorney for how they apply to your body.
Ryan Wilson is the founder and CEO of Govably, the AI minutes platform for local government clerks: cities, towns, counties and school boards.