Electronic voting
In 1869, Thomas Edison filed for a patent on the first electric vote recorder, and demonstrated the system to the United States Congress. The first proposal for automated voting in Congress was made in 1886. Over the next 84 years, fifty bills and resolutions to establish an automatic, electrical, mechanical, or electronic voting system in Congress were introduced. The Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970 authorized electronic voting for the first time. Electronic voting was first used in the House on January 23, 1973, to record a quorum call.