LogFAQs > #970592227

So, I guess it's time for Speaker vote trivia time!

The Speaker vote requires a majority of votes cast (Presents and no-shows lower the count required so it's not always 218. Most recently, Pelosi was elected Speaker in the previous Congress with 216 votes but only 427 votes were cast so 214 was the magic number.)

If no one gets that majority on the first ballot, they just keep voting until someone does - which has only happened 14 times. As mention, the last time a Speaker failed to be elected on the first ballot was 1923. On the first ballot the Republican Speaker only got 197 when the needed number was 208. He finally received a majority and retained his speakership on the 9th ballot.

The most recent time where the highest vote getter on the first ballot did not end up with it eventually was 1859 where a Democrat got 86 (37.5%) when a majority was 116. It went 44 ballots (and two months) before a Republican got 117 which was the exact number needed for the votes cast in that round.

However, while the vote requires a majority by default, on two occasions the House just went "fuck it" and changed to plurality voting. The first occasion was in 1849 where after ballot 59 they adopted a rule saying if they failed 3 more times it'd go to plurality. And so on Ballot 63 a speaker was elected with 46.16% of the votes cast.

The other occasion was also the longest Speaker election on record when in 1855 there was another 2 month marathon. Once again, they eventually adopted a "3 more tries" rule... on ballot 129. And so on Ballot 133 a Speaker was elected with 48.13% of votes cast.