For classrooms
Real votes from the official House and Senate records, since 2003, shown simply enough for a class to explore together.
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- Official records
How a bill becomes law
Every bill on VotedBy has a ring that fills as it moves along this path. Recorded votes happen at the highlighted steps.
- IntroducedA member files the bill in the House or the Senate.
- CommitteeA committee studies it, may change it, and decides whether to send it on.
- First chamber votesThe House or Senate debates and votes on passage.
- Second chamber votesThe other chamber passes the same bill, or a changed version.
- Differences resolvedBoth chambers must agree on identical text.
- PresidentSigns it into law, or vetoes it.
- Veto overrideTwo thirds of the members voting in each chamber can make it law anyway.
A step where members' votes are recorded and shown on VotedBy
What students will see
These are live examples from the site, the same tiles teachers can put on a class website.
Three short activities
Who represents us? 10 minutes
- On the home page, enter the school's ZIP code or address to find your House member and two senators. (Or choose your state.)
- Open each member's page. Note their chamber, state or district, party, and the years they have served.
- Pick one bill each of them voted on. What did each vote? Did they vote the same way?
Discuss: Why does a state have two senators but many representatives? Why might two members from the same state vote differently?
Follow a bill 15 minutes
- Open a bill that became law, such as H.R. 1.
- Use its timeline to list each step it took. Match them to the path above.
- Find the final vote in each chamber. How close was it?
Discuss: Why do both chambers have to pass the same text? What happens when one chamber changes a bill?
Read a roll call 10 minutes
- Open a Senate roll call or a House roll call.
- Read the official question. What exactly were members voting on?
- Count the Yea, Nay, Present and Not Voting totals. Was there a tie, and who broke it?
Discuss: Why is "Not Voting" recorded? What does the Vice President's role in a tie tell us about the Senate?
Research questions
Open-ended prompts for students to answer with the site and the official sources it links to. None has a "right side": they practice finding and checking facts.
How the process works
- Pick a bill that became law. How many recorded votes did it take, in which chambers?
- Find a bill that passed one chamber but not the other. What does its status say happened?
- What is the difference between a vote on passage and a vote to accept the other chamber's changes?
- Find a veto override. How many votes did it need, and did it get them?
Reading the record
- On a roll call, how many members did not vote? Does that change the result?
- Compare your two senators on three bills. Where did they agree, and where not?
- Find a vote that was decided by fewer than 5 votes. Which bill was it about?
- How many years has your House member served? How many bills have they voted on this Congress?
Checking sources
- Every vote page links to the official House Clerk or Senate record. Open it: do the totals match?
- Find the bill's official page on Congress.gov from VotedBy. What does it add (summary, text, sponsors)?
- Pick a news story or post that says how a member voted. Find that vote and check the claim.
Thinking it through
- Why might a member vote "Present" instead of Yea or Nay?
- Why might Congress record some votes and decide others by voice?
- What can a voting record tell you about a member? What can't it tell you?
Printable worksheet
My members of Congress: one bill, three votes
Name: ______________________ Date: ____________ Bill (number and name): ______________________
| Member | Chamber and state or district | Their vote | Date of the vote |
|---|---|---|---|
1. What was the official question for this vote?
2. Did the bill become law? Which step did it reach?
3. Open the official record linked on the vote page. Do the totals match? Write them here.
The live examples are left out of the printout.
Words students will see
- Yea / Aye
- A vote for the question being asked. The House uses "Yea" or "Aye" depending on the kind of vote.
- Nay / No
- A vote against the question.
- Present
- The member was there but chose not to vote for or against.
- Not Voting
- The member did not cast a vote, for any reason.
- Roll call
- A recorded vote that lists how each member voted.
- Passage
- The vote to approve a bill in one chamber.
- Concurrence
- One chamber agreeing to the other chamber's changes to a bill.
- Veto override
- A vote to make a bill law despite the President's veto. It needs two thirds of the members voting in each chamber.
Sharing with a class
- Every page has its own address: paste it into Google Classroom, a class site or an assignment.
- Teachers with a class website can embed a bill, member or roll-call tile, like the examples above.
- Found a mistake? Every page has a Report a correction link; we check each report against the official record.
Teachers: tell us what would help
A lesson idea, a feature your class needs, a question about the data, or a mistake to fix: we read every message.
Email contact@votedby.orgVotedBy is independent and nonpartisan, and not a government service. Votes come from the House Clerk and the Senate. See how it works.