At about 3am the other morning, a House vote began on the Medicare drug prescription benefit bill. It supposedly had a fifteen-minute limit on voting, but the vote ran on for three hours.
For a good portion of that time, the running tally of votes was 216 for, and 218 against. 218, of course, is an absolute (if slender) majority of the 435-member House of Representatives. However, the vote, for reasons unclear to me, continued to remain open. Eventually, however, a fewarms were twisted, and the (GOP) bill gained a slender majority. At which point the gavel apparently came down, and the vote was finalized at 220-215 in favor.
I’ll be honest: I don’t know whether this vote was won by fair means or foul; that’s what this thread is asking. (I’m starting it off in GD rather than GQ because I suspect its content would get it punted here anyway, ultimately.) It appears on the surface that the means might have been foul: in a close vote, with people changing their minds, you can all but guarantee a win if you can keep the vote open indefinitely - and then close it at the millisecond when your side briefly has a majority.
But it’s possible that there’s some more aboveboard explanation of why the vote wasn’t over when the tally of ‘No’ votes reached 218, but it was over a little later when the ‘Yes’ votes finally cleared that mark.
I didn’t know about that. I hope it’s not a situation like in Europe, where there is a referendum on the EU, and after the people vote no, they hold another, and another, until the citizens get it “right”.
It is the prerogative of the Speaker (in the House) or the President (in the Senate) – to decide when a vote is over. That means that the majority party decides when a vote is over.
It is very, very rare to have a vote last the appointed time, but I completely agree with the OPs point – that three hour vote is just absurd.
And shame, shame on whoever switched their votes. Talk about a complete lack of spine.
Makes me sick. Politicians playing like the kids who own the ball can change the rules of the game whenever it suits their advantage. They must think the public is stupid and oblivious to their unfair manipulation of the system. Let’s vote 'em out!
It is my understanding that the rules state the 15 minutes is not a limit but a minimum , i.e. the speaker cannot close the vote before that time , but as Ravenman says, its the perogative of the presiding officer when to close the vote anytime after that. In fact, it’s very rare that a vote will be exactly 15 min, but usually 20 -30 minutes. Of course, what is debatable is how moral it is to keep the vote open 3 hours to twist enough arms to get the bill to pass. The Dems shouldn’t crow to loudly on this though; they did something simillar when they had control of the House to pass Clinton’s balanced budget bill in '93.