It does and it just did.
Lol. Let’s see. 6 members voting for Winnie the Pooh or anyone else means that Kevin needs 218 to win
Same 6 members voting present now Kevin can win with 216 instead of 218
Yup sounds like a lowered threshold to me.
The rule is that you need a majority of members PRESENT AND VOTING !
When a member votes “present” it just lowers the threshold needed to achieve a majority of votes from members PRESENT and VOTING.
Now the BIGGER question any SINGLE member can call for a vote to “VACATE the CHAIR”.
A majority of those PRESENT and VOTING will then need to elect a new Speaker of the house. Assuming nobody votes “PRESENT” the threshold becomes 218 again.