Does anybody know if the Impeachment can be a secret vote?

[Lunabell]

It has been talked about a lot, but I am not sure if it is even an option. A lot of them may be in fear for their and their families lives.

On CNN:

"It's so interesting because you have the sense that if this was a secret vote, I mean, it's pretty clear how a lot of these Republican senators would vote," said anchor Anderson Cooper. "For so many of them, I mean, this is a chance for the Republican Party to rid itself, to distance itself, from the former president and try to kind of, you know, reinvent itself if it wants to. It seems like that would be a pretty strong motivation if in fact there were enough Republicans in the party who really did want to return to where the Republican Party once was."

[kimbutgar]

1. They should consider a secret ballot.

[mucifer]

2. I don't see how they can be our representatives if we don't know how they vote

[servermsh]

3. Even if it were possible, I don't think it would work in practice.

A secret vote means you don't HAVE to say how you voted, but you still can. So all the Trump loving Republicans would proudly publicly say they voted not guilty, leaving the other Republicans in the same situation as before.

[TwilightZone]

6. Yep.

And we already know where most of them stand.

[SheltieLover]

4. Not sure, but NO SECRET VOTE!

All repukes would vote "no!"

If they cannot stand the heat THEIF "pResident" created, RESIGN!

[TwilightZone]

5. Wouldn't matter.

Most of them are already on record with where they stand.

17 of them aren't suddenly going to have an attack of conscience and vote to convict, even in secret. It's wishful thinking, and not terribly realistic.

They're voting to acquit because that's how they operate -- as a monolithic bloc, with a couple of occasional exceptions. They're not voting to acquit because they think he isn't guilty. They're voting to acquit because they don't want to remove a Republican president for any reason, even if it's Trump.

[lastlib]

7. Not gonna be secret.

Any Senator can request that votes be recorded, and the losers are going to want it on the record.

[PoliticAverse]

8. The rules for the trial are unique to the trial. n/t

[lastlib]

11. Nope.

U.S. Constitution, Article 1, Sec. 5:

Each House shall keep a Journal of its Proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such Parts as may in their Judgment require Secrecy; and the Yeas and Nays of the Members of either House on any question shall, at the Desire of one fifth of those Present, be entered on the Journal.

Twenty Senators can cause the votes to be recorded.

[PoliticAverse]

9. It can be a secret vote, the question is would he Democrats want that. n/t

[onenote]

10. As a practical matter, it can't be kept secret.

The Constitution states that "Each House shall keep a Journal of its Proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such Parts as may in their Judgment require Secrecy; and the Yeas and Nays of the Members of either House on any question shall, at the Desire of one fifth of those Present, be entered on the Journal."

So all it would take to force the vote out into the open would be for 20 Republicans to vote to publish the yeas and nays.

In any event I don't see either side supporting a secret vote. The optics would be terrible.