# If Congressional votes were secret, what sort of bills would be passed?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-congressional-votes-were-secret-what-sort-of-bills-would-be-passed/737964>\
**Category:** Politics & Elections\
**Created:** [November 19, 2015, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-congressional-votes-were-secret-what-sort-of-bills-would-be-passed/737964 "2015-11-19T06:50:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2015, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-congressional-votes-were-secret-what-sort-of-bills-would-be-passed/737964/1 "2015-11-19T06:50:52Z")

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If Congressional legislative votes were secret (so that constituents couldn’t find out how their Congressman voted), what sort of bills would be passed?

Would Congress be more bipartisan (Republicans could vote for Obamacare in secret without fear of backlash,) or less bipartisan (obstructionism could be done even more blatantly?)

(I’m not saying we should switch to this system; I’m just putting forth a thought experiment.)

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**Author:** ![DerekMichaels00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f14d63/32.png) [@DerekMichaels00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DerekMichaels00)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2015, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-congressional-votes-were-secret-what-sort-of-bills-would-be-passed/737964/2 "2015-11-19T06:55:52Z")

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pay raises for sure! (by both parties)

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**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2015, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-congressional-votes-were-secret-what-sort-of-bills-would-be-passed/737964/3 "2015-11-19T09:22:12Z")

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Whatever their donors told them to pass. Just always set it up where enough people vote against so you can pretend to be one of the people who voted against it should the people not like it, letting you win the election again.

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**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2015, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-congressional-votes-were-secret-what-sort-of-bills-would-be-passed/737964/4 "2015-11-19T10:44:27Z")

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> [@BigT](#):
>
> Whatever their donors told them to pass. Just always set it up where enough people vote against so you can pretend to be one of the people who voted against it should the people not like it, letting you win the election again.

Right, most bills wouldn’t pass unanimously.