Voting methods in deliberative assemblies
– bodies that use parliamentary procedure to arrive at decisions – use several methods of voting on motions. The regular methods of voting in such bodies are a [|voice vote], a [|rising vote], and a show of hands. Additional forms of voting include a recorded vote and balloting.
Regular methods
Voice vote
Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised states that a voice vote is the usual method of voting on any motion that does not require more than a majority vote for its adoption. It is considered the simplest and quickest of voting methods used by deliberative assemblies. The chair of the assembly will put the question to the assembly, asking first for those in favor of the motion to indicate so verbally, and then ask those opposed to the motion to indicate so verbally. The chair will then estimate which side had more members.Rising vote
A simple rising vote is used principally in cases in which the chair believes a voice vote has been taken with an inconclusive result, or upon a motion to divide the assembly. A rising vote is also often the normal method of voting on motions requiring a two-thirds vote for adoption. It can also be used as the first method of voting when only a majority vote is required if the chair believes in advance that a voice vote will be inconclusive. The chair can also order the rising vote to be counted. Another use is on a resolution honoring or in memory of a notable person, when the assembly stands in honor or remembrance.Show of hands
A show of hands is a method of public voting, often used in small boards, committees or also informal gatherings, or some larger assemblies. Members raise their hands to indicate support for the motion, then for opposition to it. The chairperson assesses which side had the most hands, sometimes by counting them individually. This method is more precise than a voice vote and ensures that each member's vote is counted equally. However, it is not a full division of the assembly, and can produce a larger number of abstentions than a rising vote.In some national legislatures and public organizations, members instead use their credentials or membership cards.
Recorded vote
A recorded vote is a vote in which the votes of each member of the assembly are recorded. RONR explains:Recorded votes may either be taken by actually calling the roll or, in some assemblies, by electronic device.
Signed ballot
A signed ballot is sometimes used as a substitute for a roll call vote. It allows the members' votes to be recorded in the minutes without the chair having to call the names of each member individually. A motion to use a signed ballot is one of the motions relating to methods of voting and the polls.Balloting
Repeated balloting
Repeated balloting or the majority rule is the standard election method for most parliamentary elections. In it, a candidate is elected if they receive support from a majority of the voters. At no point are any candidates involuntarily eliminated, as they would under instant-runoff voting or the exhaustive ballot. Mason's Manual states, "In the absence of a special rule, a majority vote is necessary to elect officers and a plurality is not sufficient. A vote for the election of officers, when no candidate receives a majority vote, is of no effect, and the situation remains exactly as though no vote had been taken." Demeter's Manual states, "The fact that a majority of the votes are cast for an ineligible candidate does not entitle the candidate receiving the next highest number of votes to be declared elected. In such a case, the voters have failed to make a choice, and they proceed to vote again."Repeated balloting allows a dark horse or compromise candidate, who received few votes in the first round, to become the candidate that opposing factions agree to settle on. Moreover, it can prevent a candidate who is opposed by the majority of the electorate from being elected, as might happen under plurality.
A disadvantage is that if no one drops out of the race, and the voters are unwilling to switch sides, balloting can theoretically go on forever. In the U.S. presidential election of 1800, Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr were tied at 73 electoral votes each, and in accordance with the Constitution the election was determined via a contingent election in the House of Representatives, where it took six days of debate and 36 ballots to elect Jefferson as the winner.
Between rounds of balloting, members can make motions to help the assembly complete the election within a reasonable time. For instance, the assembly may vote to drop the candidate having the lowest vote after each successive vote, or reopen nominations for the office in order to secure a candidate on whom the majority can agree. This can help break a deadlock. In the 1855-56 election for Speaker of the House, the chamber, which had been deadlocked for 129 ballots, adopted a plurality rule stating that, if after three more ballots no one garnered a majority of the votes, the person receiving the highest number of votes on the next ensuing ballot would be declared speaker. On the decisive 133rd ballot, Nathaniel P. Banks received the most votes, 103 votes out of 214, or five less than a majority, and was elected speaker.
Nonstandard rules
Runoff and elimination rules
Preferential voting allows members to vote on more than one proposal or candidate at a time, and to rank the various options in order of preference.Robert's Rules of Order recommends using ranked voting when it is not possible to use repeated ballots, but prefers repeated ballots over instant-runoff voting where possible because the latter "affords less freedom of choice than repeated balloting, because it denies voters the opportunity of basing their second or lesser choices on the results of earlier ballots, and because the candidate or proposition in last place is automatically eliminated and may thus be prevented from becoming a compromise choice". In any case, preferential voting can be used only if the bylaws specifically authorize it. It is worth noting that elimination of the candidate with fewest votes is a feature of instant-runoff voting, but not of most modern ranked voting methods.
RONR advises against any such voting rule, saying that "The nominee receiving the lowest number of votes is never removed from the ballot unless the bylaws so require, or unless he withdraws – which, in the absence of such a bylaw, he is not obligated to do. The nominee in lowest place may turn out to be a 'dark horse' on whom all factions may prefer to agree". In social choice, this procedure by which elimination rules tend to eliminate consensus candidates is called the center squeeze effect.
Multiwinner voting
RONR discusses cumulative voting, a procedure that allows electors to divide a single vote between multiple candidates into k parts; the case where k=1 is called single non-transferable vote. RONR notes that "A minority group, by coordinating its effort in voting for only one candidate who is a member of the group, may be able to secure the election of that candidate as a minority member of the board". Similar, but more proportional, rules include Thiele's method or Phragmen's rules.Motions relating to methods of voting and the polls
Motions relating to methods of voting and the polls are incidental motions used to obtain a vote on a question in some form other than by voice or by division of the assembly; or to close or reopen the polls. For instance, a motion can be made to vote by ballot.These motions generally cannot be used to specify alternative forms of voting such as cumulative voting or preferential voting. Those methods can only be done through a provision in the bylaws. Likewise, proxy voting is generally prohibited, except in situations in which membership is transferable, as in stock corporations and even then, only by authorization in the bylaws.
Voting systems in legislatures
Many legislative bodies use electronic voting systems for recorded votes.Ancient Rome
In the various types of legislative assemblies of the Roman Republic, the voting was preceded by a contio. After the presiding magistrate called an end to this, citizens were dispersed into roped-off areas and were called forth in groups across raised gangways. Initially, each voter gave his vote orally to an official who made a note of it on an official tablet, but later in the Republic, the secret ballot was introduced, and the voter recorded his vote with a stylus on a wax-covered boxwood tablet, then dropped the completed ballot in the sitella or urna, sometimes also called cista.United States
United States House of Representatives
In 1869, Thomas Edison filed for a patent on the first electric vote recorder, and demonstrated the system to the United States Congress. The first proposal for automated voting in Congress was made in 1886. Over the next 84 years, fifty bills and resolutions to establish an automatic, electrical, mechanical, or electronic voting system in Congress were introduced. The Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970 authorized electronic voting for the first time. Electronic voting was first used in the House on January 23, 1973, to record a quorum call.Under the system implemented in the 1970s, members of the House may vote at any one of a number of stations located throughout the chamber. Each member has a small plastic card, punched identically on either end. To cast a vote, the representative inserts the card into the station in any direction and presses one of three buttons: "Yea," "Nay," or "Present."
The representative's vote is then displayed in two summary panels above the press gallery seats and to the right and left of the speaker's dais. The panel shows the member's name and a light corresponding to how that member voted, keeps a running count of vote casts, and displays time remaining for a vote. The system as used today is much the same as that used in the 1970s, although today, member's voting cards are magnetic stripe cards that contain identification information. Once a representative has voted, he or she may check the vote by reinserting the card and seeing which light is illuminated at the voting station. For the first ten minutes of a vote, a representative may also change their vote by reinserting the card to change the vote. If a representative wants to change their vote in the last five minutes of a fifteen-minute vote, the representative must use a teller card in the well of the House. A tally clerk then manually enters the vote into the electronic voting system.
In 1977, the electronic voting system was updated to be compatible with the House's newly installed closed-circuit television system showing the House chamber. The updates enabled in-progress voting counts to be displayed on the closed-circuit TV system. In-progress vote counts are now also shown on C-SPAN.