I’m not even sure the Senate can have secret votes of any kind. If you don’t record each person’s vote how can the result be official?
“I’m not even sure the Senate can have secret votes of any kind. If you don’t record each person’s vote how can the result be official?”
My understanding is that each house of Congress has total authority to set its own rules. The Senate could adopt a rule allowing for the vote after an impeachment trial to be by a secret ballot, with only the number voting to convict or acquit being reported, but not who voted which way. I’m not a lawyer or a parliamentarian, so I could easily be wrong, but I think a rule can be adopted by a mere majority vote. Assuming all the Democrats (45) vote for the secret vote rule and the 2 Independents also vote that way, it would take 4 Republicans to force the adoption of the rule. I assume the vote on the rule would be a recorded roll call.
It’s called passed by “Unanimous Consent”. Nobody goes on record. Google “Mike Lee Unanimous Consent S.386”.