Speaker Nancy Pelosi acknowledged Thursday she is looking more closely at a change in the House rules that would allow members to vote even if they are not present in the chamber.
Pelosi told reporters House Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern and House Administration Committee Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren will present lawmakers “a status report” on their efforts to draft proposals for working remotely. The two “have worked very hard on this,” Pelosi said.
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McGovern, a Massachusetts Democrat, and Lofgren, a California Democrat, are in charge of figuring out ways the House can act more formally when it is not in session. The House has been in recess since mid-March due to the coronavirus outbreak and is not scheduled to return until May 4 at the earliest.
“They’ll often give our members options,” Pelosi said. “Show us how we can do it. What are the options that the Constitution, the rules of the House, the technology, the security enables us to do. And that is what they have been working on. Until we have an appropriate way to do it … we can’t do it.”
The House would have to vote on a change in the rules to allow remote or proxy voting, Pelosi said.
Lawmakers are ramping up pressure for the remote voting now, while leaders in both parties and in both chambers have been cool to the idea. Pelosi insisted she is not entirely opposed to the idea of it.
“It’s not as easy as you may think,” Pelosi told reporters Thursday. “I’ve been negative on the status quo of it because it so far has not — we haven’t had a good option.”
McGovern issued a report last month on remote voting options and determined changing the rules to allow it during the coronavirus outbreak is not realistic.
“Significant security and logistical concerns surround remote voting, and opponents of the legislation could raise constitutional questions surrounding the process,” McGovern wrote in the report.
“Allowing remote voting would require major changes to the House rules for this purpose — and much smaller changes have taken years of study and consideration to implement.”
