[Deschler-Brown Precedents, Volume 14,  Chapter 30]
[Chapter 30. Voting]
[A. Generally]
[Â§ 6. Finality of Votes Once Cast]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[Page 11490-11492]
 
                               CHAPTER 30
 
                                 Voting
 
                              A. GENERALLY
 
Sec. 6. Finality of Votes Once Cast

    When a vote is cast by a system where there is human intervention 
in recording the result, such as a vote cast by a roll call or by

[[Page 11491]]

tellers with clerks, and there is an error in the recordation of the 
vote,(16) the Chair has the discretion to entertain a 
request to correct the vote if it does not change the result of the 
vote as previously announced from the Chair. Obviously, where a vote is 
taken by voice, and the Chair has heard the responses from the ``ayes'' 
and the ``noes,'' a Member cannot change his response. Similarly, when 
a vote is by division, and the Chair has counted those standing in the 
affirmative and the negative and has announced the result, a Member 
cannot change his mind. The same is true of all votes cast: a vote once 
given cannot be retracted or changed. A Member who casts a vote by 
mistake can admit his error and state for the Record how he intended to 
vote, and by unanimous consent such an explanation may be inserted in 
the Record following the vote in question.
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16. See Sec. 38.1, infra.                          -------------------
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Sec. 6.1 A Member may not change a vote once cast, even by unanimous 
    consent, after the result has been announced.

        On June 17, 1986,(17) Mr. Fernand J. St Germain, of 
    Rhode Island, asked the Chair if he could change his vote from yea 
    to nay ``because his attention was diverted at the time he voted 
    and he did not understand the issue.''
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17. 132 Cong. Rec. 14038, 99th Cong. 2d Sess.
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        Mr. St Germain: Mr. Speaker, on this vote, rollcall No. 168, my 
    attention was diverted at the time I voted. By mistake or through 
    distraction, I cast a ``nay'' vote, whereas I should have cast a 
    ``yea'' vote. Subsequently I was called to the phones.
        Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that my vote be changed in 
    the permanent Record to reflect a ``yea'' vote on rollcall No. 168.
        The Speaker Pro Tempore: (18) The Chair would advise 
    the gentleman that he cannot change his vote. The gentleman's 
    statement will appear in the Record, immediately following the 
    vote.
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18. G. V. (Sonny) Montgomery (Miss.).
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Sec. 6.2 The Speaker cannot permit voting corrections after the 
    announcement of the result of a vote by electronic device, based 
    upon the presumed infallibility of that device and upon the 
    responsibility of each Member to correctly cast and verify his 
    vote.

    On Apr. 18, 1973,(19) the Speaker declined to entertain 
a unanimous-consent request that the Record be corrected to indicate 
that a Member had voted by electronic device on a recorded vote in 
Committee of the Whole despite

[[Page 11492]]

assurances by that Member that he had verified his vote by reinserting 
his card.
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19. 119 Cong. Rec. 13081, 93d Cong. 1st Sess.
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        Mr. [Robert O.] Tiernan [of Rhode Island]: Mr. Speaker, 
    yesterday here, on rollcall No. 100, the vote on the Roybal 
    amendment to strike out the funds for the extension of the west 
    front of the Capitol, I voted ``no''
        Mr. Speaker, I placed my card in the box. It registered ``no.'' 
    I actually took the card back out and put it back in, and it showed 
    a red ``no'' again.
        Last night, to my chagrin, I was told that I was not recorded 
    as voting. I was here. Other Members of the House were present with 
    me and saw me vote and record my vote as ``no.''
        I hope that the House committee which is in charge of this 
    electronic voting system will check that out, because there is no 
    question of it.
        The Speaker: (20) The Chair hopes the same thing.
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20. Carl Albert (Okla.).
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        Mr. Tiernan: Apparently there is no way of correcting the 
    Record at this time.
        The Speaker: Not under the procedure which has been adopted. 
    The Chair is powerless to act.