A party-line vote in a

deliberative assembly A deliberative assembly is a meeting of members who use parliamentary procedure. Etymology In a speech to the electorate at Bristol in 1774, Edmund Burke Edmund Burke (; 12 January ew Style, NS1729 – 9 July 1797) was an Anglo-Irish Po ...

(such as a

constituent assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...

parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

, or

legislature A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial power ...

) is a vote in which a substantial majority of members of a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

vote the same way (usually in opposition to the other political party(ies) whose members vote the opposite way). Sources vary on what proportion of party members must adhere to the party line in order for the vote to constitute a "party-line" vote. For example, in the

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, the ''

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'' has stated: "A party-line vote is one on which a majority of Republicans vote one way and a majority of Democrats vote another. 2. A bipartisan vote is one in which a majority of Republicans and a majority of Democrats vote the same way". Another source defined this event for purposes of classifying votes for research purposes as "one where 90 percent of the majority party votes against 90 percent of the minority party". Party-line votes are also noted to reflect the degree to which the division of power requires parties to retain cohesion in order to implement its goals:

United States

In the U.S. Congress, it is the function of the party whip of each party in each house to ensure that members adhere to party policies and in particular that members vote for or against bills, amendments, and (in the case of the U.S. Senate) for or against

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and administration appointments as determined by senior party leadership. The leverage available to the party whip may be in rewards (such as the negotiation of side deals for

pork barrel ''Pork barrel'', or simply ''pork'', is a metaphor for allocating government spending to localized projects in the representative's district or for securing direct expenditures primarily serving the sole interests of the representative. The u ...

spending) or in punishments (such as withholding appointments to powerful committees). The ultimate threat is to support another candidate in the primary election with endorsements and party funds. The party whip will operate under the direction of the particular party's leader (called respectively the majority leader or the minority leader). Prior to the 1980s, it was not uncommon for members of the U.S. House of Representatives to "cross the aisle" and vote for legislation supported by the opposing party. By the mid-1990s, however, the House became almost completely partisan and polarized.

References

External links

U.S. Senate party-line voting for the 110th CongressU.S. House party-line voting for the 110th Congress
Voting {{politics-stub