About the House Roll Call Vote Pages
When you select "House Roll Call Votes" from the THOMAS home page, you are connected to server in the House of Representatives displaying roll call vote information compiled by the staff of the Office of the Clerk of the House from the electronic voting system. Votes are displayed in reverse chronological order; that is, most recent votes are displayed first. Roll call votes are numbered sequentially as they are taken. By the end of the first session of the 105th Congress, 640 roll call votes had been taken in the House.

Summary information for each vote consists of:

• the roll call number;
• the date the vote was taken;
• the "issue" -- usually the number of the bill or resolution being voted on¹;
• the "question" -- whether to agree to the resolution or the conference report, whether to suspend the rules and pass the bill (or pass the bill as amended), etc.;
• the result -- whether the question passed (P) was agreed to (A) or failed (F);
• the title of the bill or resolution or description of the vote.

The Roll Call Number is linked to the details of the vote. Vote totals are given for Republicans, Democrats and Independents in each of the four vote categories: yea (or aye), nay (or no), present, not voting (NV). Party totals are followed by lists of individual Member votes for each of the categories.

The "Issue" -- when it is a bill or resolution -- is linked to the Bill Summary and Status record for that measure in the THOMAS system. If you want to see the vote in the context and chronology of other floor actions, select the STATUS: Floor/Executive Actions option from the THOMAS record. In addition to other floor actions, this display shows all roll call votes on the measure and its amendments -- each roll call vote number links back to the Clerk of the House's server with details of the vote.

Notice that there often is more than one roll call vote associated with a bill number, since amendments to bills may be voted on separately or en bloc (several amendments offered and considered as a group).

About Votes in the House
Since its founding, the House of Representatives has adopted complex rules, precedents, procedures, and customs which govern its day-to-day operations. The voting process in the House reflects this. Nevertheless, the basic practice of the House in taking roll call votes is specified in the Constitution.

In Article I, Section 5, the Constitution refers to entering "yeas and nays of the members of either House on any question . . . on the journal." Most electronic votes taken in the House are roll call votes that occur pursuant to this constitutional provision, so Members are recorded as voting "yea" or "nay." The Constitution requires a yea-nay vote when a demand for it is supported by one-fifth of the Members present, and it also requires a yea-nay vote on overriding a presidential veto.

The constitutional right to demand the yeas and nays, however, doesn't extend to the Committee of the Whole, which procedurally is very different from the House. Thus the electronic votes taken in the Committee of the Whole are technically not roll call votes (although the Clerk's Roll Call Vote page, in order to simplify matters, does not make the distinction). Electronic votes taken in the Committee of the Whole are instead recorded votes, and Members are listed as voting "aye" or "no" (instead of "yea" or "nay") in order to distinguish this kind of vote from a constitutionally demanded roll call vote. (Before 1971, there were no recorded votes in the Committee of the Whole at all -- all votes were voice, division or teller votes.) Although it is also possible for a recorded vote to occur in the House, electronically recorded votes on which Members are shown as having voted "aye" or "no" occur primarily in the Committee of the Whole. However, both types of votes are taken by the same electronic voting system.

Types of Votes
The majority of House votes are taken in the Committee of the Whole, which is the parliamentary forum used for amending legislation. There are three methods of voting in the Committee of the Whole that are also employed in the House. These are the voice vote, the division vote, and the electronically recorded vote. The constitutionally mandated yea-and-nay vote, already mentioned, is a kind of electronically recorded vote that is used only in the House. A yea-and-nay vote may be automatic if a Member objects to a voice or division vote on the grounds that a quorum is not present. The Speaker is not required to vote, unless his vote is required to break a tie.

1. A voice vote is the fastest method and is usually employed when a question is first put to the House. The presiding officer, the Chair, first calls for the "ayes" and then for the "noes," and members shout out their vote in unison. The Chair determines the result on a comparison of the volume of ayes and noes. No individual votes or even total vote counts are recorded with this method.

2. If it is difficult to determine the result of a voice vote, a "division" or "standing" vote may be initiated by the Chair or demanded by any Member. The Chair then states: "As many as are in favor will rise and stand until counted." After counting those in favor s/he calls on those opposed to stand and be counted, thereby determining the number in favor of and those opposed to the question. Only vote totals are announced, and no individual Member votes are recorded. Few questions are decided by division vote; usually the losing side will instead request a recorded vote, which has the effect of causing a larger number of Members to be present to vote.

3. Recorded votes have been taken by an electronic voting system on the House floor since 1973. In the Committee of the Whole, if a Member requests a recorded vote, that request must be supported by at least 25 Members. Members usually have a minimum of 15 minutes in which to record their votes from the time the recorded vote is ordered. The Speaker may reduce the period for voting to five minutes on subsequent votes when there has been no intervening debate or business.

4. Teller votes: Before 1971, votes in the Committee of the Whole sometimes were taken by teller vote, which did not record the positions of individual Members. Instead, the Chair appointed two Members as "tellers" representing opposite sides of the question, and Members walked up the center aisle of the House between them to be counted -- first the "ayes," then the "noes." Only vote totals were taken. The House's rules no longer permit teller votes.

During the 60s, objections began to be raised to unrecorded votes in the Committee of the Whole -- where most amending of legislation is done -- since Members could not be held accountable to their constituents for their votes. The Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970 provided for "tellers with clerks," or recorded teller votes, where Members were required to write their names on green (signifying "aye") or red (signifying "no") cards and hand them to tellers, who then recorded an individual vote for a Member. After the installation of the electronic voting system in 1973, the cards were dispensed with, and the "recorded teller votes" became simply "recorded votes." Until this time, "yea" and "nay" votes in the full House were the only votes individually recorded for Members. Representatives who do not wish to vote may answer "present."

Voting Pairs
"Pairs" are informal voluntary agreements between House Members, not specifically authorized or recognized by House rules. They are agreements which Members employ to nullify the effect of absences on recorded votes. If a Member expects to be absent for a vote, he may "pair off" with another Member who would vote on the other side of the question, but who agrees not to vote. Because pairs are informal and unofficial arrangements, they are not counted in vote totals, but they are published in the Congressional Record. If a vote is one that requires a two-thirds majority (e.g., overriding a presidential veto), then a pair consists of two members favoring the action who are absent and one opposed to it, who withholds his/her vote.