Hours before Republican House members were scheduled to vote on a speaker Monday evening, the House GOP Conference announced that although the nine contenders for speaker would make presentations, there would be no votes afterward.
Instead, the 221 GOP members will meet behind closed doors Tuesday morning and immediately commence voting on a candidate to wield the gavel of dethroned Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
There was considerable confusion over the rules for voting. Several members insisted on Friday and several news outlets (including Newsmax) reported there would be two ballots — the first in which all candidates competed and the second a run-off between the top two vote-getters.
Not so, it turns out. In response to several questions by House members, House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R.-N.Y. sent out a memo explaining the actual rules: "If more than two Members are running for the same office, and none receive a majority, and none receive a majority of all votes cast, another ballot is held and the Member receiving the lowest number of votes on the first ballot is dropped from consideration."
The balloting repeats, according to the rules, "until a Member receives a majority of all votes cast."
Only when a speaker-designate is chosen will the full House vote on just whether he or she becomes speaker.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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