Senator Chris Coons, Democrat of Delaware, who was among the first to be ensnared by the new rules last week after signing the pledge, conceded that he had it coming. It was a preliminary procedural vote on a nominee.
“I was back in my office on a Zoom call with a constituent and my assistant came in and said, ‘Senator you really need to go,’ ” said Mr. Coons. “They literally closed the vote as I went through the door, but I had signed the letter. It was fine.”
The Senate has not followed the House and allowed members to vote by proxy in the pandemic, an option that has become a crutch of convenience for some, and likely never will. Senators take pride in their old-school voting methods. While House members vote by “electronic device,” and the running vote tally is projected on the wall of the chamber, senators vote pretty much as their predecessors did, with a spoken word or a thumbs up or a finger jabbed down in front of a watchful tally clerk.
Senator John McCain is remembered for his dramatic thumbs down to kill Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act — drawing rage from former President Donald J. Trump. One infirm senator who was unable to speak famously pointed to his eye to signal an affirmative vote to break a filibuster against a civil-rights bill in 1964. Try doing that by electronic device.
Most senators said they didn’t mind missing a vote or two if it could speed the Senate along. The new pledge allows anyone who wants the vote held open to call their cloakroom and ask for more time to get to the floor.
Senators said they were also well aware of the consecutive voting streaks of Republican Senators Susan Collins of Maine, who cast her 8,000th consecutive vote last year — an unbroken run over 25 years — and Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, who cast nearly 9,000 straight votes before his streak was interrupted by the coronavirus in 2020. Their colleagues would not want to have a vote close before they could weigh in, but the two typically make certain that they register their votes in time so any pledge would be unlikely to affect them.
Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader tasked with making the Senate work, has welcomed the new push, aides said, and has urged senators to respect the schedules of their colleagues. Senators say the pledge has already had a positive impact.