Help: Floor Votes Box Score

The Floor Votes Box Score is a feature that opens in the document window any time a floor vote document is opened.

The top line of the box score indicates in which chamber of Congress the vote was taken and the date on which the vote occurred.

In the box score, each row represents one political party (D=Democratic Party, R=Republican Party, I=Independent). The first column indicates the party and the total number of party members who voted on the measure; note that this figure does not represent the total number of party members in the chamber, but rather the number of party members who cast a vote. In the example below, 246 Democrats, 164 Republicans, and 1 independent cast a vote on the measure.

In the "Yeas," "Nays," and "Other" columns, you will see the number of party members who cast that vote and their percentage of the entire party caucus voting on the measure. In the sample Floor Vote Box Score, of the 246 Democrats casting a vote, 132 voted for the measure, 103 voted against it, and 11 cast some other type of vote. The 132 Democrats voting "yea" represent 53.66% of the total number of Democrats voting (132 / 246). The 103 Democrats who voted "nay" represent 41.87% of all Democrats voting (103 / 246). And so forth. The percentages may not sum to 100 percent due to rounding.

In the "Total" row, you will see the total number of votes cast on the measure (411 in the example below), the total number of "yea" votes (294), the total "nays" (106), and total "other" (11). The percentages in this row represent, respectively, "yea" votes as a percentage of all votes cast, "nay" votes as a percentage of all votes cast, and "other" votes as a percentage of all votes cast.

The design of the Floor Vote Box Score allows for quick assessment of where, in partisan terms, support for the measure came from. In our example, the measure passed the House by a comfortable margin, on a vote of 294 to 106, a 71.53% majority. Republicans were nearly unanimous in their support, with only 2 members voting against. Democrats, on the other hand, were nearly evenly split, with 53.66% of Democrats present and voting supporting the measure.

At the bottom of the box score are four links:

Below the Floor Vote Box Score is a brief description of the measure on which the vote was taken.

Roll-Call Results

Clicking on the "View Roll Call" link under the Floor Votes Box Score will take you to a list of the "yeas" and "nays." Other types of votes are possible, however. Below is a key to the roll-call results.

Note: The following will be tallied and included under "Other": +, #, X, -, P, C, ?.