speaker election: procedural facts

SPEAKER ELECTION: PROCEDURAL FACTS
Constitutional Requirement
Article I, Section 2 of the US Constitution states that, “The House of Representatives shall chuse
their Speaker and other Officers.”
Timing
By law (2 USC Sec. 25), the Speaker must be sworn prior to any other business. As a result, the
election takes place at the start of each new Congress, as soon as a quorum has been
established. For the upcoming 114 Congress, it is scheduled to occur on Tuesday, January 6,
2015.
th
Process
The Clerk of the House accepts nominations from the floor. A member of each Leadership—the
respective conference and caucus chairmen—nominates one candidate from each party. Reps.
John Boehner (R-OH) and Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) will receive these party nominations in the 114
Congress. The Clerk then asks the rest of the House whether there are any further nominations.
Once the slate of nominees is set, the Clerk begins the roll call vote which proceeds in alphabetic
order by surname. When called upon, members respond orally with their vote (viva voche).
th
Required Vote Threshold
According to the precedents of the House, an absolute majority of “the total number of votes cast
for a person by name” is required to elect a Speaker. Abstentions, “present” votes, and of
course, missed votes are not counted towards the total number of votes cast for a person. For
example, voting present lowers the total number of votes needed for a nominee to achieve a
majority. If the full House is sworn in and voting, a majority of the full membership is 218. (Rep.
Michael Grimm (R-NY) will not be sworn in for the 114 Congress as a result of his resignation, but
a majority of the full members is still 218.) Again, a plurality is not sufficient to be chosen Speaker.
If a majority is not obtained on the first ballot, there are subsequent ballots until a winner receives
enough votes.
th
No Voting Restrictions
There are no restrictions for whom Members may vote. They do not have to vote for the nominees
or even a Member of the House of Representatives (the Constitution does not require the Speaker
to be a Member, although it always has). For instance, in 2013, Rep.
Boehner received 220 votes, Rep. Pelosi received 192 votes, while Reps.
LEARN MORE:
Justin Amash (R-MI), Eric Cantor (R-VA), Jim Cooper (D-TN), John Dingell
Heritageactionsentinel.com
(D-MI), Jim Jordan (R-OH), Raul Labrador (R-ID), Rep. John Lewis (D-GA),
and non-Members Colin Powell, David Walker, and former Rep. Allen West all received votes.
Potential Impact of Democrats
Since they comprise the Majority party, as long as Republicans vote for some candidate by name
(i.e., not missing the vote or voting present), the Democrat nominee cannot be elected without
GOP votes simply because there are multiple candidates receiving votes. And in the unlikely event
SPEAKER ELECTION: PROCEDURAL FACTS
that a large group of Republicans missed the vote or voted present, the result would be quickly
reversed by the full Republican Majority by vacating the Speaker chair and starting anew. There is
no way that Rep. Pelosi will be the Speaker in the 114 Congress without Republican votes.
th
Potential Impact of Republican Dissenters
A sufficiently large block of Republicans—29 Members with the current political composition of
the House (246 GOP-188 Democrats)—can prevent their party’s nominee from achieving the
necessary majority to be elected Speaker. For instance, in 1923, the progressive wing of the
Republican Party blocked a Republican from being Speaker until some of their procedural
demands were adopted. This occurred over three days and nine different ballots. Similarly the
House has seen lengthier delays in electing the Speaker. In 1849, the House required over 59
ballots and 19 days to elect a Speaker. In 1856, more than 129 ballots were required.
LEARN MORE:
Heritageactionsentinel.com

Download Report