Making laws
voice vote
A vote decided by which side sounds louder. No individual positions are recorded, so no member can be held to a position afterward.
In full
The chair asks for the ayes and then the noes and announces the result by ear. Most measures pass this way because most are uncontroversial, but a voice vote also lets a chamber dispose of a difficult question without a record. Any member may demand the yeas and nays, and in the House a sufficient second forces a recorded vote instead.
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A plain-language explanation for civic education, not legal advice. When in doubt, the official source named above controls.