For people who’ve asked why the #House keeps voting, it seems that’s literally all they can do AND FURTHER, it’s what they must do, under the rules of the chamber.
If they are in session, they have to be voting.
If the members-elect choose to adjourn until noon, they are committing their future selves to vote at noon. And keep voting so long as they’re in session.
At this point in the House’s processes there isn’t an option for working on something else. This is the one, singular next order of business, to be overseen by the Clerk without a Speaker to choose a different task.
Procedures are fun!
@volkris
It seems like an odd choice of rules. Do you happen to know the justification for it, or if not justification at least the origin?
@gabe For the rules of the House and Senate, a whole lot evolved over generations of experience as they felt out what did and didn’t work. They also drew a lot of inspiration from older legislatures around the world, as you can see in their early historical documents.
In this particular case, contrast the House against the Senate.
In the #Senate, with only 100 “upstanding” members, there’s time to indulge them all, so all senators are fairly equal under the rules. Even leaders often have to ask permission to act, just like everyone else.
The #House has so many more members, and which are less “respectable” people, so they require an overseeing Speaker to set the schedule.
Given that, then, if there’s no Speaker then the one position to set a schedule is vacant and nobody to schedule anything other than electing a Speaker!
