[Deschler-Brown Precedents, Volume 14,  Chapter 30]
[Chapter 30. Voting]
[B. Non-recorded Votes]
[Â§ 12. Determining Presence of Quorum as Related to Division Vote]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[Page 11530-11531]
 
                               CHAPTER 30
 
                                 Voting
 
                         B. NON-RECORDED VOTES
 
Sec. 12. Determining Presence of Quorum as Related to Division Vote

Counting Those Present

Sec. 12.1 In determining the presence of a quorum on a division vote, 
    the Chair counts those Members who are present but not voting.

    On Aug. 13, 1940,(9) Mr. William M. Colmer, of 
Mississippi, called up House Resolution 406 which provided that upon 
the adoption of the resolution, the House would resolve itself into the 
Committee of the Whole in order to consider H.R. 8157, a bill to 
establish a national land policy and to provide homesteads free of debt 
for farm families.
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 9. 86 Cong. Rec. 10251, 76th Cong. 3d Sess.
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    Following debate on the resolution, the previous question was 
ordered (10) and the question taken on the resolution; 
(11) and there were on a division (demanded by Mr. Colmer)--
ayes 47, noes 123. This result prompted Mr. Knute Hill, of Washington, 
to object to the vote on the ground that a quorum was not present. The 
Speaker (12) counted and announced that the count disclosed 
235 Members present--a quorum. The yeas and nays were requested and 
refused; so the resolution was rejected.
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10. Id. at p. 10257.
11. Id. at p. 10258.
12. William B. Bankhead (Ala.).
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Sec. 12.2 The Speaker having counted a quorum after putting the 
    question on a pending amendment, and less than a quorum having 
    voted by division on the same question immediately thereafter, the 
    Speaker, in reply to a point of order, ruled that a

[[Page 11531]]

    quorum was present, and said that the Chair was not responsible if 
    all Members did not vote.

    On Apr. 2, 1943,(13) the House entertained further 
consideration of the war security bill (H.R. 2087) which was intended 
to provide for the punishment of certain hostile acts against the 
United States, among other things.
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13. 89 Cong. Rec. 2877, 78th Cong. 1st Sess.
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    In the course of the bill's consideration, Mr. Harry Sauthoff, of 
Wisconsin, offered an amendment to strike out certain portions of the 
bill which he believed to present a threat to civil 
liberties.(14)
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14. Id. at p. 2879.
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    Following debate on the Sauthoff amendment, the question was put by 
the Speaker,(15) whereupon Mr. Clare E. Hoffman, of 
Michigan, raised the point of order that a quorum was not 
present.(16) The Chair counted and having found 219 Members 
present, proceeded to put the question. A division was had, and the 
vote resulted in 62 ayes, and 112 noes.
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15. Sam Rayburn (Tex.).
16. 89 Cong. Rec. 2886, 78th Cong. 1st Sess.
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    Immediately thereafter, Mr. Sauthoff rose to object to the vote, as 
follows:

        Mr. Sauthoff: Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground 
    that a quorum is not present.
        The Speaker: The Chair has just counted, and a quorum was 
    present. The Chair is not responsible if all Members in the House 
    do not vote. The Chair must hold that a quorum is present.

    So, the amendment was rejected.(17)
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17. For a comparable instance in which a quorum was ascertained 
        immediately following a division vote of less than a quorum, 
        see 86 Cong. Rec. 10258, 76th Cong. 3d Sess., Aug. 13, 1940.
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