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A comment on Email privacy bill unanimously passes U.S. House. Parent comment

Re:Email privacy bill unanimously passes U.S. House by nickpsecurity on Wednesday April 27, 2016 @09:11PM (#11585934)
Cool. Thanks. It's the definition of unanimous that's a little fishy. I thought it meant everyone voted Yes for it whereas even a 1 to 0 vote could pass as unanimous, right?
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Re:Email privacy bill unanimously passes U.S. House by etjossem on Wednesday April 27, 2016 @09:17PM (#11585961)
That's why we have a quorum. Half of all seated Senators (51) are required to be present for the Senate to do business. For a House with no vacancies, half means 218 Representatives.

So you're right; fishy "unanimous" votes can and do happen. A controversial measure might pass unanimously in a legislative body because all the opposition walked out in protest. This happened about a month ago in the 50-seat North Carolina Senate, which is dominated by Republicans. [1]

[1] https://www.carolinajournal.com/news-article/senate-democrat...

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Re:Email privacy bill unanimously passes U.S. House by lukeschlather on Wednesday April 27, 2016 @09:28PM (#11586000)
It looks like the smallest unanimous vote in the 113/114th congresses was 353.

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2013/roll631.xml

For the Senate, 83.

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote11...

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Re:Email privacy bill unanimously passes U.S. House by nickpsecurity on Wednesday April 27, 2016 @09:41PM (#11586043)
Makes sense. Appreciate the tip.
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