majority leader votes in the speaker of the house.
majority leader votes in the speaker of the house.
who votes in the speaker of the house?
majority leader
to be elected speaker a candidate must receive an absolute majority of the votes cast, as opposed to an absolute majority of the full membership of the housepresently 218 votes, in a house of 435. there have only been a few instances during the past century where a person received a majority of the votes cast, and thus won the election, while failing to obtain a majority of the full membership. it happened most recently in january 2015 (114th congress), when john boehner was elected with 216 votes (as opposed to 218). such a variation in the number of votes necessary to win a given election might arise due to vacancies, absentees, or members being present but not voting. if no candidate wins a majority of the "votes cast for a person by name," then the roll call is repeated until a speaker is elected. multiple roll calls have been necessary only 14 times since 1789; and not since 1923 (68th congress), when a closely divided house needed nine ballots to elect frederick h. gillett speaker. upon winning election the new speaker is immediately sworn in by the dean of the united states house of representatives, the chamber's longest-serving member.
october 2015 speaker of the united states house of representatives election
after speaker cliff rosenberger resigned on april 12, 2018 smith announced that he would run for speaker. during the race for speaker while he had the most support, though he was never believed to have the necessary majority to be elected speaker. this caused speaker pro-tempore kirk schuring to cancel house session on multiple occasions, to give smith more time to get the votes that he needed and try to bridge the republican caucus divide. in june schuring put forward two options to the house in a straw poll, either they could hold a vote for speaker or they could amend house rules to allow the speaker pro tempore to continue through the rest of the year. a majority of house members decided that a vote should be held. on june 6, 2018 the vote for speaker was held during house session. the nominees where rep. ryan smith, rep. andy thompson, rep. jim hughes, and rep. fred strahorn. house rules required that a nominee receive a majority of the votes of those present for the vote, or after 10 votes if no nominee has received a majority then on the 11th vote the nominee with the plurality will be named speaker. 7 representatives were absent for the vote bringing the required majority from 50 down to 46. smith was elected on the 11th vote by plurality, receiving 44 votes (his vote count remained the same and never changed over all 11 rounds).
ryan smith (ohio politician)