A casting vote is a vote given to the presiding officer of a council or legislative body in order to resolve a deadlock. Examples of people who hold casting votes are the Speaker of the British House of Commons and the Vice President of the United States (in his capacity as President of the Senate). In the United Kingdom, the Speaker of the House of Commons is the presiding officer of the House of Commons, and is seen historically as the First Commoner of the Land. ... Richard B. Cheney, 46th and current Vice President of the United States The Vice President of the United States is the second-highest executive official of the United States government, the person who, in the words of Adlai Stevenson, is a heartbeat from the presidency. ... Seal of the Senate The United States Senate is one of the two chambers of the Congress of the United States, the other being the House of Representatives. ...

In the legislatures of some countries, a casting vote may be exercised however the presiding officer wishes. An example is the Vice President of the United States, who usually votes according to his party affiliation or according to his own personal beliefs. This means that if the Senate is equally divided between Democrats and Republicans, the Vice President's party is the determining factor in who controls the Senate. The Democratic Party is one of the two major political parties in the United States. ... The Republican Party, often called the GOP (for Grand Old Party, although one early citation described it as the Gallant Old Party) [1], is one of the two major political parties in the United States. ...

In other countries, however, a casting vote can only be exercised according to strict rules or conventions. For example, the Speaker of the British House of Commons is required by convention to vote for the status quo rather than for change. This effectively means that if the House is tied on a bill, that bill is defeated. Speaker Denisons rule is an explanation given by a 19th century Speaker of the British House of Commons, John Evelyn Denison, as to why the Speaker casts his or her vote in most cases in favour of, rather than against, a government, where they have the casting vote. ...

Some countries have abandoned the concept of a casting vote. For example, the Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives formerly held a casting vote similar that of the Speaker of the British House of Commons. Today, however, the Speaker simply votes as an ordinary member, and since an outright majority is necessary for a bill to pass, a tie is considered to be a defeat. In New Zealand The Speaker of the House of Representatives is the individual who chairs the countrys legislative body, The House of Representatives (commonly known as Parliament). The Speaker fulfills a number of important functions in relation to the operation Parliament, much of which is based upon the British...

Record of tie-breaking votes of U.S Vice Presidents

• John Adams (29)
• John C. Calhoun (28)
• George M. Dallas (19)
• Richard M. Johnson (17)
• Andrew Johnson (17)
• Schuyler Colfax (17)
• George Clinton (12)
• John C. Breckinridge (9)
• Thomas R. Marshall (8)
• Alben W. Barkley (8)
• Richard M. Nixon (8)
• Hannibal Hamlin (7)
• George H. W. Bush (7)
• Elbridge Gerry (6)
• William A. Wheeler (6)
• Richard B. Cheney (6, so far)
• Martin Van Buren (4)
• Levi P. Morton (4)
• James S. Sherman (4)
• Henry A. Wallace (4)
• Hubert H. Humphrey (4)
• Albert A. Gore (4)
• Thomas Jefferson (3)
• Aaron Burr (3)
• Daniel D. Tompkins (3)
• Millard Fillmore (3)
• Charles Curtis (3)
• John N. Garner (3)
• Chester A. Arthur (2)
• Adlai E. Stevenson (2)
• Charles G. Dawes (2)
• Spiro T. Agnew (2)
• Henry Wilson (1)
• Garret A. Hobart (1)
• Harry S. Truman (1)
• Walter F. Mondale (1)
• John Tyler (0)
• Thomas A. Hendricks (0)
• Theodore Roosevelt (0)
• Charles W. Fairbanks (0)
• Lyndon B. Johnson (0)
• Gerald R. Ford (0)
• Nelson A. Rockefeller (0)
• J. Danforth Quayle (1)