Chapter 11 - Voting
and divisions
Divisions
A formal recorded vote in the Senate is referred to as a division, as
the ayes and noes divide in the chamber. The senators voting on each side are
then counted and recorded, and their votes are recorded in the Journals.
Senators vote by sitting on either side of the chamber, the ayes to the right
of the chair and the noes to the left, and are counted by tellers appointed by
the President.
After a division is called for it may be withdrawn by leave of the
Senate (unanimous consent of all senators present) up to the point at which the
President appoints the tellers (SO 98(3)). This
procedure is used where divisions are called for mistakenly or where there has
at first been some uncertainty as to how particular senators are voting.
When a division is called for the bells are rung for
four minutes to summon absent senators who wish to vote to the chamber. When
successive divisions are taken, with no debate after the first division, the
bells for each ensuing division are rung for one minute only (SO 101(3)). While the
bells are ringing the doors of the chamber are held open to facilitate the
entry of senators. After the bells
have rung for four minutes the President directs that the doors be locked while
the count takes place (SO 101(1) and (2)). This is to
ensure that the counting is not confused by senators entering or leaving the
chamber during the process of the count. At the direction of the President senators present on the
floor of the chamber when the doors are locked proceed to either side of the
chamber and remain in seats while the count is taking place (SO 101(4), (6); 19/2/1908,
J.296).
The President then appoints
tellers, one from each side, who call the names of the senators voting on each
side. The names are taken down by the clerks and the lists, signed by the
tellers, are presented to the President, who declares the result (SO 102(1)). Normally
party whips are appointed as tellers (technically the President can appoint any
senator as a teller, and a senator is obliged to act when appointed: ruling of President Givens, SD, 13/11/1918, p. 7761).
The divisions lists
are published in the Journals (SO 102(3)).
If there is subsequently any confusion or error concerning the result
of a division, unless it can be more easily corrected another division is taken
(SO 104).
Occasional corrections of counting errors which do not affect the result, and
which are usually caused by pairing errors (see below), are
made and certified by the tellers.
Divisions are taken
again by leave when it is discovered that senators have been accidentally
absent or some similar accident has caused a division to miscarry, on the
principle that decisions of the Senate should not be made by misadventure (see
SD, 5/12/1974, pp 3212-3; 9/9/1996, J.537-8; 21/11/1996, J.1081; 13/5/1998,
J.3765; 27/5/1998, J.3859; 2/12/1998, J.252; 3/12/1998, J.270-2; 17/2/1999,
J.458-9, 471; 21/4/1999, J.756-7;
19/8/2003, J.2221; 20/8/2003, J.2228-31; 25/11/2003, J.2722-3; 2/3/2006,
J.1952-3; 28/3/2006, J.2008-9; 30/3/2006, J.2091; 15/6/2006, J.2256). For the
result of a division altered by leave without the division being taken again
(because some senators who participated in the division were not available to
hold the division again), see 17/9/2003, J.2426).
A senator who has called for a division must not leave the chamber
until the division has been completed (SO 100(2)), and a
senator must vote in a division in accordance with the senator’s vote by voice
(SO 100(3)). These
rules ensure that divisions are not called for unless the senators calling for
them actually intend to vote as they have indicated.
A senator is not obliged, however, to vote for a motion which the
senator has moved, the rationale being that even the mover may be persuaded
against a motion by the debate; or the motion may have been amended in a way
unacceptable to the mover (ruling of President McMullin, 2/10/1957, J.99; see
also 20/11/1957, J.155; 5/12/1960, J.200).
There is no
provision for absentee voting; a senator must be in the chamber to vote
(SO 100(4); ruling of
President Gould, SD, 11/2/1908, p. 7973).
Nor is there any
provision in the procedures of the Senate for proxy voting by senators.
Arguably, such a provision would be contrary to section 23 of the Constitution
in so far as that section provides that each senator shall have one vote.
The procedures do
not allow for senators formally to record an abstention from voting. All
senators who are on the floor of the chamber when the count is begun must vote
with the ayes or the noes, except the senator in the chair (SO 101(5)). Senators
who wish to abstain in a vote can do so only by absenting themselves from the
floor of the chamber. If a senator is absent during a division, it is therefore
not possible to tell from the record of voting alone whether the senator has
deliberately abstained from voting or has simply been absent. It is of course
open to senators to declare an intention to abstain from voting during debate
on a motion or otherwise to make their abstention known.
An exception to the rule that a senator who is present in the chamber
must vote is made for the President in the Senate and
the Chair of Committees in the chair of the
committee of the whole, and in practice for any senator who occupies the chair
at the time of a division (SO 101(5); see Chapter
5, Officers of the Senate: Parliamentary Administration). The rationale of this
exception is that the senator in the chair cannot avoid voting by leaving the
chamber as can other senators. In practice, the President and other senators in
the chair normally vote in a division. They do so by indicating whether they
are voting with the ayes or the noes (SO 99(2)).
No decision is taken to have been reached by a division if a quorum
of senators has not voted in the division (see Chapter 8, Conduct of
Proceedings, under Quorum).
If a senator wishes
to raise a point of order during a division,
the senator may do so while sitting (SO 103). The rationale
of this rule is that a senator standing, which senators normally must do to
seek the attention of the chair, would not be conspicuous when senators are
taking their places in the chamber to vote. A point of order raised during a
division must relate to the division, and cannot refer to some matter which has
occurred earlier (ruling of President Baker, SD, 28/9/1906, p. 5644). For observations on the method of resolving
points of order during divisions, see čFirst Report of 1997 of Procedure
Committee, February 1997.
Divisions in
committee of the whole are taken in the same manner as in the Senate (SO 105).
A division cannot
be held after 6 pm on Thursdays (SO 57(3)). If a
division is called for at that time the matter concerned is adjourned to the
next day of sitting at a time fixed by the Senate. A temporary order first
passed in 2004 altered this time to 4.30 p.m. (11/5/2004, J.3379). Standing order 57(2) provides for
divisions called between 12.45 pm and 2 pm on Wednesdays also to be deferred, but until later on
the same day. When a deferred division is called on, the practice is to put the
question again, on the basis that senators who originally called the division
may change their minds and allow the question to be determined on the voices. (See Supplement)
A division takes up to seven minutes to complete, the first four
minutes being the time for the ringing of the bells to summon senators to the
chamber (for successive divisions the bells are rung for only one minute: see
above).
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