Vote correction

after a roll-call vote

With a vote correction, Members of the European Parliament state after a roll-call vote how they intended to vote. Parliament publishes these statements as “corrections to votes and voting intentions” in the annex “Results of roll-call votes” to the minutes, provided they are submitted in the two weeks following the part-session. They are for information only: the result of the vote announced in plenary does not change.

What is a vote correction?

In a roll-call vote, the minutes record how each Member voted (Rule 197(4) of the Rules of Procedure). Afterwards, Members can submit a correction to their vote or state how they intended to vote. Parliament lists both under the heading “Corrections to votes and voting intentions”. OpenRCV calls them vote corrections for short; in both cases, they record the voting intention that a Member states after the vote.

Votes by show of hands, the general rule under Rule 194, produce no individual votes. For electronic votes that are not roll-call votes, only the numerical result is recorded (Rule 199(2)). Corrections therefore exist only for roll-call votes.

Which rules apply

The Rules of Procedure contain no specific rule on corrections to votes. This applies both to the July 2024 edition from the start of the 10th term and to the May 2026 edition in force in November 2026. The deadline and the effect are set out in the notice at the beginning of the annex: it lists statements submitted in the two weeks following the part-session. They are published for information only and in no way alter the outcome of the vote announced in plenary.

The authoritative result remains the one that the President establishes and announces under Rule 194. Rule 200 provides a separate route for disputing the validity of a vote: a point of order raised after the President has declared the vote closed. Explanations of vote are also governed by a rule of their own, Rule 201. Members can give them orally or in writing, but only on the single or final vote on an item. Corrigenda under Rule 251 concern errors in adopted texts, not votes.

Where vote corrections are published

The individual votes are not given in the main text of the minutes but in their annex “Results of roll-call votes”. Where there are corrections to a vote, the annex lists them in a separate section under that vote: the intended vote, marked “+” (in favour), “-” (against) or “0” (abstention), and the names.

The annex is updated after the part-session. The annex for the sitting of 22 October 2026, for example, was updated on 4 November 2026. In the Open Data Portal, intended votes are stored in separate fields from the official votes.

How OpenRCV shows vote corrections

OpenRCV takes the corrections from the Open Data Portal and shows them alongside the official vote, including for Members who did not cast a vote. If the stated vote is the same as the official one, OpenRCV does not show a correction.

  • In the view of a roll-call vote, a note next to a Member’s vote gives the intended vote. The “Corrections” filter lists only the Members concerned.
  • A Member’s profile, reached via MEPs, gives the number of vote corrections and marks them in the list of votes.
  • The Own positions page can be switched from “Official vote” to “After correction”.
  • Key figures and statistics use the official vote. The statistics separately list the votes in which the corrections would produce a different result on paper. The view of such a vote carries the note “On paper only, no effect”.
  • In the downloads on the Data page, the position_corrected column holds the intended vote and is empty if there is no correction. The position column remains the official vote.

Vote corrections in the 10th term

For the period of the 10th term covered, the overview gives the number of vote corrections in all roll-call votes and separately in final votes, in each case also in relation to the votes cast. It also shows in how many votes the corrections would produce a different result on paper. It contains no names; who submitted a correction is shown in the view of each vote.

Covering the roll-call votes from 17 July 2024 to 22 October 2026.

  • 13,434 vote corrections in 6,412 roll-call votes, about 3 per 1,000 votes cast
  • In the 652 final votes: 1,836 corrections, about 4 per 1,000 votes cast

In 9 votes, including 1 final vote, the corrections would produce a different result on paper. The official result stands. All cases

Limitations

A vote correction only reflects the vote that a Member, by his or her own account, intended to cast. The annex gives no reasons.

Until two weeks have passed after a part-session, further corrections may be added, so the figures for that part-session remain provisional until then. OpenRCV checks for them every two hours between 8 am and 8 pm Brussels time each day, until 16 days after the last sitting day of a part-session. Corrections that Parliament adds more than 18 days after a sitting day are not picked up automatically.

The overview counts corrections in all roll-call votes, including sub-votes, for example on amendments or individual paragraphs. In the downloads, this corresponds to the member_votes_all file. The member_votes file contains only one roll-call vote for each item, usually the final vote, and therefore fewer corrections; its count also differs from the final-vote figure in the overview.

Sources

Source: European Parliament open data (CC BY 4.0), prepared by OpenRCV.

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