Article I, Section 2, of the Constitution states: "The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers." The position of Speaker combines several roles: the institutional role of presiding officer and administrative head of the House, the partisan role of leader of the majority party in the House, and the representative role of an elected Member of the House. As the "elect of the elect," the Speaker has perhaps the most visible job in Congress. By statute, the Speaker is also second in line, behind the Vice President, to succeed to the presidency. The Constitution does not describe the office of the Speaker or its duties, nor was there any significant discussion of the office during the Constitutional Convention. The use of the title "Speaker" probably has its origins in the British House of Commons, where the presiding officer acted as the chamber's spokesman to the Crown, but any assumptions the authors of the Constitution had for the office undoubtedly also drew upon their own experiences in colonial legislatures and the Continental Congress. There does not seem to have been any grand plan or specific expectation as to how the Founding Fathers envisioned the speakership. Rather, the speakership has been shaped largely by the various individuals who have held the post, the circumstances in which they have operated, formal obligations that have been assigned to the office by House rules and by statute, the character of the House as a political and constitutional institution, and traditions and customs that have evolved over time. When the House of Representatives convenes at the beginning of a new Congress, its first order of business is to elect a Speaker. Because the House dissolves at the end of a Congress and must start anew at the beginning of each new Congress, the Clerk of the House presides over the House under general parliamentary law until a Speaker is elected. For its first 50 years, the House elected the Speaker by ballot. In 1839, this method was changed to election by vive voce , meaning that each Member names aloud whom he or she favors for Speaker. Tellers then record the result. In modern practice, each party places the name of a single Member in nomination for the position, but otherwise virtually the same vive voce method is used to elect the Speaker. Because the election of the Speaker typically takes place before the House adopts its rules of procedure, the election process is defined by precedent and practice rather than by any formal rule. To be elected Speaker, a candidate must receive an absolute majority of the votes cast, which may be less than a majority of the full membership of the House because of vacancies, absentees, or Members voting "present." Although the major parties nominate candidates for the position of Speaker, there is no limitation on for whom Members may vote. In fact, there is no requirement that the Speaker be a Member of the House. None of the other officers of the House is a Member. If no candidate receives the requisite majority, the roll call is repeated until a Speaker is elected. Again, Members may continue to vote for any individual, and no restrictions, such as eliminating minority candidates or prohibiting new candidates from being named, are imposed. For example, at the beginning of the 34 th Congress in 1855, 133 ballots over a period of two months were necessary to elect Nathaniel Banks of Massachusetts as Speaker. The last occasion on which multiple ballots were required to elect a Speaker was in 1923. At the beginning of the 68 th Congress, the nominees from both major parties initially failed to receive a majority of the votes because of votes cast for other candidates by Members from the Progressive Party and from the "progressive wing" of the Republican Party. After the Republican leadership agreed to accept a number of procedural reforms, many of these Members agreed to vote for the Republican candidate on the ninth ballot, making Frederick Gillett of Massachusetts the Speaker. If a Speaker dies or resigns during a Congress, the House immediately elects a new Speaker. Although it was an earlier practice of the House to elect a new Speaker under these conditions by adopting a resolution to that effect, the modern practice is to use the same practice as employed at the beginning of a Congress. The most recent example occurred during the 114 th Congress when Paul Ryan of Wisconsin was elected Speaker following the resignation of John Boehner of Ohio. After the ballots are tallied, the presiding officer announces the name of the newly elected Speaker and then appoints a committee of Members to escort the Speaker-elect to the chair. Traditionally, the minority floor leader makes remarks and presents the Speaker-elect to the House; the Speaker-elect then addresses the chamber before being sworn in by the longest continuously serving Member (the "Dean of the House"). The House, at that point, adopts two resolutions, one that informs the Senate of the Speaker's election and one that directs the Clerk to inform the President. In the 19 th century, longevity of House service was not as important a criterion in selecting the Speaker as it is today. It was not unusual for a Member to be elected Speaker with only a few years of service. From 1789 to 1899, the average length of House service before a Member was elected Speaker was 7.1 years. In fact, Henry Clay of Kentucky (in 1811) and William Pennington of New Jersey (in 1860) were each elected Speaker as freshmen. (The first Speaker, Frederick A. Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania, was obviously a third, albeit special, case.) The 21 Speakers elected between 1899 (David B. Henderson) and October 2015 (Paul D. Ryan) served an average of 23.3 years in the House prior to their first election as Speaker. The longest pre speakership tenure in this period belonged to Jim Wright, who served for 17 terms before being elected as Speaker. Sam Rayburn of Texas served longer as Speaker than any other Member: a tenure of 17 years (interrupted twice by Republican majorities). Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill Jr. of Massachusetts holds the record for the longest continuous service as Speaker: 10 years. The record for the shortest tenure belongs to Theodore M. Pomeroy of New York, who served one day. ( Appendix A lists all the Speakers of the House as well as their party affiliations, home state, and dates of service in that office. See http://history.house.gov/Institution/Firsts-Milestones/Speaker-Fast-Facts/ for other "Speaker of the House Fast Facts" [e.g., youngest, oldest, etc.].) Although the Constitution mentions the office of the Speaker, it is silent on duties of the office. Today, the Speaker possesses substantial powers under House rules. Among the duties performed are the following: Administering the oath of office to Members (the act of 1789 [2 U.S.C. 25] provides that, on the organization of the House, the oath shall be administered by any Member—traditionally the Member with the longest continuous service—to the Speaker and by the Speaker to the other Members); Calling the House to order (Rule I, clause 1); Preserving order and decorum within the chamber and in the galleries (Rule I, clause 2); Recognizing Members to speak and make motions (Rule XVII); Deciding points of order (Rule I, clause 5); Counting a quorum (Rule XX, clause 7(c)); Presenting the pending business to the House for a vote (Rule I, clause 6); Appointing Speakers pro tempore (Rule I, clause 8) and chairs of the Committee of the Whole (Rule XVIII, clause 1); Certifying various actions of the House, including signing all acts and joint resolutions, writs, warrants, and subpoenas of (or issued to) the House (Rule I, clause 4); Appointing select and conference committees (Rule I, clause 11); Appointing certain House officers (such as the inspector general under Rule II, clause 6; the historian of the House under Rule II, clause 7; and the general counsel under Rule II, clause 8); Referring measures to committee(s) (Rule XII, clause 2); and Examining and approving the Journal of the proceedings of the previous day's session (Rule I, clause 1). The Speaker's powers offer him or her considerable latitude to exercise discretion. Under most circumstances, the Speaker has the authority to ask Members who seek recognition, "For what purpose does the gentleman (or gentlelady) rise?" The Speaker may then decide whether or not to recognize that Member for the specific reason given. In this way the Speaker is able to assert control over what motions may be made and therefore what measures will be considered and the general flow of House floor proceedings. House Rule XV, clause 1, allows the Speaker to entertain motions to suspend the rules on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays and during the last six days of a session. Discretion over who may be recognized to make such motions gives the Speaker virtually complete control over the suspension process. The institutional role of the Speaker also extends beyond the duty to preside over the House. The Speaker also exercises general control over the Hall of the House and the House side of the Capitol (Rule I, clause 3) and serves as the chair of the House Office Building Commission. The Speaker is frequently authorized in statute to appoint Members to various boards and commissions, and it is typically the Speaker who is the formal recipient of reports or other communications from the President, government agencies, boards, and commissions. The role of the Speaker also extends to the requirement in House Rule V, clause 1, that he or she administer a system for audio and video broadcasting of the proceedings of the House. Rule I, clause 9, provides for the Speaker, in consultation with the minority leader, to devise a system of drug testing in the House.