From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms
Recorded Vote / Roll Call Vote
Roll Call Vote on H.R. 2126
Recorded Vote: A vote upon which each member’s stand is individually made known. In the Senate, this is accomplished through a roll call of the entire membership, to which each senator on the floor must answer “yea,” “nay” or, if he/she does not wish to vote, “present.” Since January 1973, the House has used an electronic voting system for recorded votes, including yea-and -nay votes formerly taken by roll calls.
Roll Call Vote / Roll-Call Vote: A vote in which members are recorded by name for or against a measure.
When not required by the Constitution, a recorded vote can be obtained on a question in the House on the demand of one-fifth (44 members) of a quorum, or one-fourth (25 members) of a quorum in the Committee of the Whole.
Also see
- Congress by the Numbers
- Roll Call Votes on Congress.gov
- Committee of the Whole
- Yeas and Nays
- Chapter 6. Legislating in Congress: Legislative Process, in Congressional Deskbook
- Chapter 5.M. Voting; in Congressional Procedure
More
- Roll Call Votes on Congress.gov
- U.S. House of Representatives Roll Call Votes
- Senate Roll Call Votes
- Recorded vote – Wikipedia
- “The Legislative Process on the House Floor: An Introduction,” CRS Report 95-563 (18-page PDF
)
- “Congressional Roll Call and other Record Votes,” CRS Report RL30562 (18-page PDF
)
- “Voting and Quorum Procedures in the Senate,” CRS Report 96-452 (16-page PDF
)
Courses
- Congressional Operations Briefing – Capitol Hill Workshop
- Drafting Federal Legislation and Amendments
- Writing for Government and Business: Critical Thinking and Writing
- Custom, On-Site Training
- Preparing and Delivering Congressional Testimony and Oral Presentations, a Five-Course series on CD
- Congress, the Legislative Process, and the Fundamentals of Lawmaking Series, a Nine-Course series on CD
Publications

Testifying Before Congress

Pocket Constitution

Citizen’s Handbook to Influencing Elected Officials: A Guide for Citizen Lobbyists and Grassroots Advocates

Congressional Procedure
CongressionalGlossary.com, from TheCapitol.Net
For more than 40 years, TheCapitol.Net and its predecessor, Congressional Quarterly Executive Conferences, have been teaching professionals from government, military, business, and NGOs about the dynamics and operations of the legislative and executive branches and how to work with them.
Our custom on-site and online training, publications, and audio courses include congressional operations, legislative and budget process, communication and advocacy, media and public relations, testifying before Congress, research skills, legislative drafting, critical thinking and writing, and more.
TheCapitol.Net is on the GSA Schedule, MAS, for custom on-site and online training. GSA Contract GS02F0192X
TheCapitol.Net is a non-partisan small business.
Teaching how Washington and Congress work ™