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While Modern English has a two-form system of yes and no for affirmatives and negatives, earlier forms of English had a four-form system, comprising the words yea, nay, yes, and no. Yes contradicts a negatively formulated question, No affirms it; Yea affirms a positively formulated question, Nay contradicts it. Will they not go? — Yes, they will.
The presiding officer or chair of the assembly will put the question to the assembly, asking first for all those in favor of the motion to indicate so orally ("aye" or "yea"), and then ask second all those opposed to the motion to indicate so verbally ("no" or "nay").
To cast a vote, the representative inserts the card into the station in any direction and presses one of three buttons: "Yea," "Nay," or "Present." [24] The representative's vote is then displayed in two summary panels above the press gallery seats and to the right and left of the speaker's dais.
Members insert a voting ID card and can change their votes during the last five minutes if they choose; in addition, paper ballots are used on some occasions (yea indicated by the color green, nay by red.) [13] To conduct a voice vote the chairman asks "As many as are in favor say Aye, as many as are opposed, say No". [13]
Two examples of variation over time can be seen in the Corpus of Historical American English, which shows that nay was among the most common interjections in 1820 but by the 2010s had become significantly less common. [28] In contrast, yeah does not occur in the corpus in 1820, but is among the most used interjections by the 2010s. [29]
If a division is demanded, then the Speaker of the House of Representatives (or, more commonly, a Representative of the majority party designated by the Speaker to preside as Speaker pro tempore) or the Presiding Officer of the Senate asks those voting Yea to rise and remain standing until counted, and then asks those voting Nay to do the same ...
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It is sometimes referred to as a "clean vote." Members vote yea or nay on the matter rather than voting on a related procedural maneuver. [1] Depending upon the rules of order for that particular type of amendment or bill, the vote required for passage might be a 2/3 majority, a 3/5 majority, or a simple majority.