House to Consider Letting Members Vote by Proxy During Pandemic

(Bloomberg) -- The House will consider letting many members avoid traveling to Washington during the coronavirus pandemic by arranging for other members to vote for them by proxy.

Rules Chairman Jim McGovern proposed this low-tech approach to deal with worries about health and travel raised by dozens of lawmakers during a private conference call among House Democrats Thursday.

“A member casting a vote on behalf of another member would be required to have exact direction from that member on how to vote and would have to follow that direction,” McGovern said in a statement issued after the call.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi has given her blessing to the the idea, according to her office. McGovern, in his statement, underscored the proposal would be only a temporary alternative.

The House isn’t scheduled to be back in session until May 4, and both McGovern and Pelosi indicated that absent a unanimous consent agreement, a rule change to allow proxy voting would itself require a vote.

Pelosi suggested such a vote could occur the same day members may act on a resolution creating a special House committee to oversee spending coronavirus funding, though no date has been set for that, either.

Electronic Voting

Proxy voting by House members would stop well short of proposals by some members to let them vote electronically from their home states to avoid having to travel during the crisis. Pelosi and others have expressed concern that remote voting technology may not be secure or could present constitutional challenges.

“It’s not as easy as you think,” Pelosi said in a conference call with reporters Thursday. But she insisted, “I have not been negative on it.”

Under McGovern’s plan, a single member could vote as a proxy for more than one colleague -- different than the one-to-one limit his committee had suggested last month. Also, the number of votes cast, not actual members in the chamber, would determine whether the House has met its quorum requirement to conduct business.

The plan requires disclosure of whether votes were cast in person or by proxy -- by notations online and in the Congressional Record, and by an announcement on the House floor.

McGovern said the House isn’t ready to consider using technology to conduct virtual committee hearings and meetings to write legislation.

“But in the meantime, committees can hold briefings and roundtables to continue their work,” McGovern said.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, in a call with reporters, didn’t directly answer questions about whether he could support remote voting. But he suggested that it might not be necessary.

“I do believe there is going to come a time shortly where Congress can come back,” said McCarthy, a California Republican. His office didn’t immediately respond on whether he would support McGovern’s temporary plan.

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