The dataset contains vote results for all City Council agenda items in which a roll call vote was taken, starting in January of 2018.
The Cambridge City Council uses two different voting methods: voice votes and roll call votes. During a voice vote, all those in favor of a motion verbally vote “yes” simultaneously, and then all those opposed vote “no” simultaneously. During a roll call vote, each Councilor votes “yes” or “no” in turn. Voice votes are more common and are not recorded in this dataset. The Council tends to rely on roll call votes for City Manager’s agenda items related to fiscal and budgetary topics (e.g., how much money to allocate to a department or program). Please read the limitations section of this metadata form to avoid misinterpretations of the data.