Proxy voting

In recent days, babies have taken center stage at the US Capitol, carried by their congresswoman mothers advocating for a rule change to allow proxy voting for new parents. Representatives Anna Paulina Luna, Republican from Florida, and Brittany Pettersen, Democrat from Colorado, crossed the aisle to propose that House members be allowed twelve weeks to delegate their votes after childbirth. This effort, while well-intentioned, ignores the historical and practical significance of in-person voting in Congress. Article I, Section 4, Clause 2 of the Constitution states: “The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year.

When House Democrats passed their $3 trillion coronavirus ‘relief’ package late last week, they also jammed through a rules change on proxy voting that fundamentally transforms the nature of the House of Representatives and junks centuries of tradition. Because of a change to House rules, members will now be able to submit their votes from afar. They will not have to travel back to DC to vote: they can instead send their ‘yea’ or ‘nay’ to a colleague, who will submit it on their behalf. One member can submit up to 10 votes at a time, meaning that the will of the House, which normally takes 218 members in the chamber, could be determined with only 21 members physically present.