parliamentary procedure Parliamentary procedure is the accepted rules, ethics, and customs governing meetings of an assembly or organization. Its object is to allow orderly deliberation upon questions of interest to the organization and thus to arrive at the sense or t ...

, a voice vote (from the Latin ''viva voce'', meaning "live voice") or acclamation is a voting method in deliberative assemblies (such as

legislature A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its p ...

s) in which a group

vote Voting is a method by which a group, such as a meeting or an electorate, can engage for the purpose of making a collective decision or expressing an opinion usually following discussions, debates or election campaigns. Democracies elect holde ...

is taken on a topic or

motion In physics, motion is the phenomenon in which an object changes its position with respect to time. Motion is mathematically described in terms of displacement, distance, velocity, acceleration, speed and frame of reference to an observer and mea ...

by responding vocally. The voice vote is considered the simplest and quickest of voting methods used by

deliberative assemblies A deliberative assembly is a meeting of members who use parliamentary procedure. Etymology In a speech to the electorate at Bristol in 1774, Edmund Burke described the British Parliament as a "deliberative assembly," and the expression became the ...

. 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 orally ("aye" or "yea"), and then ask second all those opposed to the motion to indicate so verbally ("no" or "nay"). The chair will then make an estimate of the count on each side and state what they believe the result to be. Voice votes have inherent disadvantages and the method has major shortfalls in close contests. The volume of the voices are typically only estimated and not actually measured with sound level meters, giving a chair enough

plausible deniability Plausible deniability is the ability of people, typically senior officials in a formal or informal chain of command, to denial, deny knowledge of or responsibility for any damnable actions committed by members of their organizational hierarchy. Th ...

to falsify the result if they disagree with it; even if such a vote can be objectively quantified in terms of

decibel The decibel (symbol: dB) is a relative unit of measurement equal to one tenth of a bel (B). It expresses the ratio of two values of a power or root-power quantity on a logarithmic scale. Two signals whose levels differ by one decibel have a po ...

s, the method gives an unfair advantage to those who have louder voices. The need to make an audible signal also compromises any situation in which a

secret ballot The secret ballot, also known as the Australian ballot, is a voting method in which a voter's identity in an election or a referendum is anonymous. This forestalls attempts to influence the voter by intimidation, blackmailing, and potential vote ...

may be desired. The method is suitable in most cases where unanimity is required. 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 In parliamentary procedure, a division of the assembly, division of the house, or simply division is a method of taking a vote that physically counts members voting. Historically, and often still today, members are literally divided into physical ...

(a standing or rising vote), or a

roll call vote Deliberative assemblies – bodies that use parliamentary procedure to arrive at decisions – use several methods of voting on motions (formal proposal by members of a deliberative assembly that the assembly take certain action). The regular meth ...

. Voice votes are usually not recorded, but sometimes are. Voice votes are also used in non-governmental settings, such as battles of the bands and

spectator sport A spectator sport is a sport that is characterized by the presence of spectators, or watchers, at its competitions. Spectator sports may be professional sports or amateur sports. They often are distinguished from participant sports, which are m ...

s where a

most valuable player In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

Man of the Match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

or Best in Show award is chosen by the audience.

Ancient Greece

Methods of voice voting were employed in

ancient Greece Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cult ...

as early as seventh century BC. The election of the members of the

Gerousia The Gerousia (γερουσία) was the council of elders in ancient Sparta. Sometimes called Spartan senate in the literature, it was made up of the two Spartan kings, plus 28 men over the age of sixty, known as gerontes. The Gerousia was a pr ...

Sparta Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referre ...

's Council of Elders, was conducted by shouting. From the assembly, few persons were selected and locked up in a room close to the election, so that they could only hear the noise of the audience, but not see the candidate put to vote. The candidates were then presented to the assembly one after another without speaking a word. The favor of the assembly towards one candidate was assessed by the selected persons who established a ranking of all candidates with respect to the loudness of the assembly. Those candidates who have received the most and loudest acclamations were eventually elected.

United States

Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised ''Robert's Rules of Order'', often simply referred to as ''Robert's Rules'', is a manual of parliamentary procedure by U.S. Army officer Henry Martyn Robert. "The object of Rules of Order is to assist an assembly to accomplish the work for whic ...

'' (11th edition) provides that: In Congress, "the vast majority of actions decided by a voice vote" are ones for which "a strong or even overwhelming majority favors one side," or even

unanimous consent In parliamentary procedure, unanimous consent, also known as general consent, or in the case of the parliaments under the Westminster system, leave of the house (or leave of the senate), is a situation in which no member present objects to a prop ...

. Members can request a

(a rising vote, where each sides rise in turn to be counted), and one-fifth of members can demand a

recorded vote Deliberative assemblies – bodies that use parliamentary procedure to arrive at decisions – use several methods of voting on motions (formal proposal by members of a deliberative assembly that the assembly take certain action). The regular me ...

on any question, after the chair announces the result of a voice vote. It is estimated that more than 95 percent of the resolutions passed by state legislatures are passed by a unanimous voice vote, many without discussion; this is because resolutions are often on routine, noncontroversial matters, such as commemorating important events or recognizing groups.

United Kingdom

A voice vote is held to decide if a bill can progress through to the next stage. The Speaker of the House of Commons will then propose the question by saying, for example (second reading): "The Question is, that the Bill be now read a second time". The Speaker then invites supporters of the bill to say "aye" and then opponents say "no": "As many as are of that opinion say 'aye' upporters say 'aye' of the contrary 'no' pponents say 'no'. In what is known as ''collecting the voices'' the Speaker makes a judgement as to the louder cry. A clear majority either way will prompt the response "I think the Ayes/Noes have it. The Ayes/Noes have it!" (this can be forced to a

division Division or divider may refer to: Mathematics *Division (mathematics), the inverse of multiplication *Division algorithm, a method for computing the result of mathematical division Military *Division (military), a formation typically consisting ...

by continued cries either way). If the result is at all in doubt a division will be called and the speaker will say "Division, Clear the Lobbies!" In the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

, the

Lord Speaker The Lord Speaker is the presiding officer, chairman and highest authority of the House of Lords in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The office is analogous to the Speaker of the House of Commons: the Lord Speaker is elected by the member ...

will propose the question by saying, for example (second reading): "The Question is, that the Bill be now read a second time". The Lord Speaker then does similarly to the Commons Speaker, by saying, "As many as are of that opinion say 'Content' upporters say 'Content'and of the contrary 'Not Content' pponents say 'Not Content" The Lord Speaker then decides. In the result of a division, the Lord Speaker will say "Division. Clear the Bar".

Canada

Members vote by saying "yea" or "nay", and the Speaker judges the mood of the House. If five or more members demand a recorded vote, one must be held.

Australia

Members vote by saying "aye" or "no", and the Speaker of the House (or President of the Senate) judges the result. If two or more members demand a recorded vote, one must be held.

New Zealand

The initial decision on any question is by voice vote, members saying "aye" or "no", and the Speaker declaring which side has won. Members of the losing side (or abstainers), but not supporters of the side declared to have won, are entitled to demand a formal test of opinion.

India

The voice vote (ध्वनि मत) is used in the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past ...

, the

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

and state assemblies to vote for certain resolutions. It is used when there is a wide agreement on issues and in some cases where the house is not in order. It was used during the formation of the Indian state of

Telangana Telangana (; , ) is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated on the south-central stretch of the Indian subcontinent, Indian peninsula on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India b ...

in 2014. On 20 September 2020, the Rajya Sabha passed the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill and Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill by the voice vote, wherein the opposition parties alleged that the Deputy Speaker of the Rajya Sabha has abused the provision of the voice vote and declared both the bills to be passed despite the opposition parties asking for division of the votes.

Other methods

Humming A hum is a sound made by producing a wordless tone with the mouth closed, forcing the sound to emerge from the nose. To hum is to produce such a sound, often with a melody. It is also associated with thoughtful absorption, 'hmm'. A hum has a ...

is used as a voice vote method at the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) to estimate the participants' positions on some issues.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Voice Vote Parliamentary procedure sv:Acklamation