A voice vote (or viva voce, from the Latin, "live voice") is a voting method used by deliberative assemblies (such as legislatures) in which a vote is taken on a topic or motion by responding verbally.
The voice vote is considered the simplest and quickest of voting methods used by deliberative assemblies. The presiding officer or chair of the assembly will put the question to the assembly, asking first for all those in favor of the motion to indicate so verbally ("aye" or "yes"), and then ask second all those opposed to the motion to indicate so verbally ("no"). The chair will then make an estimate of the count on each side and state what he believes the result to be. Since in close cases this can be imprecise, typically if there is any doubt as to the outcome any member of the assembly may request another vote by a method such as division of the assembly (a standing or rising vote), or a roll call vote. Voice votes are usually not recorded, while others are.
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Famous quotes containing the words voice and/or vote:
“And prayer is more
Than an order of words, the conscious occupation
Of the praying mind, or the sound of the voice praying.”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)
“I find that the respectable man, so called, has immediately drifted from his position, and despairs of his country, when his country has more reason to despair of him. He forthwith adopts one of the candidates ... as the only available one, thus proving that he is himself available for any purposes of the demagogue. His vote is of no more worth than that of any unprincipled foreigner or hireling native, who may have been bought.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)