How to run a whip count

Most bills are won or lost before anyone votes. A whip count tells you, member by member, who is with you, who is against you and who is still deciding, so you know where to spend the calls you have left. This guide covers the categories, the steps, the Arkansas vote math and a template you can copy into any spreadsheet.

The vote thresholds on this page come from the Arkansas Senate, the Arkansas House and the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, linked at each claim. A few bills carry special rules. When in doubt, ask the chamber's staff which majority your bill needs.

The five positions

Use the same five positions for every member, every time. A count is only useful when everyone on the team means the same thing by each word.

Only a firm yes goes in your total. A lean yes is a vote you can lose, so keep it out of the number you report and work it until it turns into a yes.

How to run the count

1. Know the number. Find which majority your bill needs, in each chamber, before you make a call. The table below has the common Arkansas thresholds.
2. Load every member. Start from the full roster for the chamber, or the committee, not from a list of people you already know. Missing members are the most common reason a count is wrong.
3. Mark what you know. Put every member in one of the five positions. If you have no information, they are undecided.
4. Split the calls. Give each undecided and lean member one owner on your team. One owner per member stops two people from making the same ask, and stops nobody from making it.
5. Log every contact. Write down the date, who talked to the member, what they said in their own words, and what would move them. "Wants the fiscal note first" is more useful than "seemed fine."
6. Recount before each step. Update the count before the committee vote, again before the floor vote, and again if the bill is amended. An amendment can move members in both directions.
7. Call it only on firm yeses. You have the votes when the yes column alone reaches the majority. Then protect them until the vote is recorded.

Arkansas vote math

The Arkansas House has 100 members and the Senate has 35. The Arkansas Senate lists the majorities most bills need:

The three-fourths rule comes from Amendment 19 of 1934. The Encyclopedia of Arkansas notes that Arkansas is the only state to require 75 percent of the members of both houses to approve most appropriations, which gives a quarter of either chamber the power to block one. For an appropriation, that means 26 House members or 9 senators can stop the bill. Count the no column as carefully as the yes column.

The thresholds count members elected, not members present. An absent member is not a no, but they are not a yes either. A veto override needs only a simple majority of both chambers, according to the Arkansas House.

See appropriation, two-thirds vote and veto in the glossary.

Committee counts

A bill is referred to a committee before it reaches the floor, and the committee votes to recommend passage or defeat. Run a separate count for the committee, because it is a smaller room with its own math.

Each Arkansas House standing committee has 20 members, five chosen from each of the four House district caucuses, according to the Arkansas House. Senate committees are smaller. Load the current committee roster, count to a majority of it, and confirm with committee staff whether the rule counts members present or the full membership.

A committee can also hold a bill on its agenda without a vote. A count that shows you short in committee tells you to keep working before you ask for a vote, not after.

The whip count template

Copy this table into a spreadsheet, with one row per member. Keep one sheet per bill and per chamber, and one more for the committee.

Sample rows, not real members. At the top of the sheet, keep a tally that updates from the Position column:

"Short by" is the majority minus firm yeses. In this sample the team has 44 yeses and 9 leans, so it needs to turn 7 of the 9 leans, or find undecided members to make up the difference.

Common mistakes

• Counting leans as yeses. It makes the number look better until the vote.
• Several versions of the sheet. When each teammate keeps their own copy, nobody knows which count is current.
• No log, only a position. A position without the member's own words cannot be checked or followed up.
• Forgetting the higher majority. An appropriation that has 60 House votes is still 15 short.
• Not recounting after an amendment. The bill changed, so the count may have too.

Questions

How many votes does a bill need to pass in Arkansas?

Most bills need a simple majority: 51 of 100 in the House and 18 of 35 in the Senate. Appropriations and some tax increases need three-fourths, which is 75 in the House and 27 in the Senate. Bills that change an initiated act need two-thirds, which is 67 and 24.

What is the difference between a whip count and a whip list?

People use both words for the same thing: a list of members with each one's position on a bill. Some teams use "whip list" for the list of members and "whip count" for the totals at the top.

Should a lean yes count toward the total?

No. Report firm yeses as your count and track leans separately. A lean is a vote you still have to win or protect.

Can I use a spreadsheet for a whip count?

Yes. The template on this page works in any spreadsheet. The weak point is sharing it: one sheet that everyone edits works better than copies sent around by email.

Does StateGov have a whip count tool?

The Whip is a shared whip count board for lobbying teams, and it is in build. It loads every member from the public roster, knows the majority for each chamber and keeps each team's count private to that team.