U.S. Rep. Buchanan of Fla. accidentally votes against House resolution disapproving debt increase

Last week, a handful of House Republicans — including one Florida congressman — accidentally voted against a measure expressing disapproval of raising the country’s debt limit.

Though the vote initially seemed like a major change of heart for the GOP congressmen, they have since submitted statements to the congressional record, asking for their votes to be changed. Among the five to mistakenly vote “no” on H.J. Res. 77 was Florida Congressman Vern Buchanan, R-Sarasota.

Following his inadvertent vote on Wednesday, Buchanan submitted the following request: “Please let the permanent record reflect that I support H.J. Res. 77 and my vote should be recorded as ‘aye.’” A spokesperson told The New York Times that Buchanan “thought he had voted yes, until he found out otherwise.”

Because the votes had already been officially recorded, however, they will remain unchanged. Though the men have given no explanation as to why they mistakenly voted against the resolution (which passed the House in a 232-to-186 vote), some speculate that the men were simply used to voting “no” on anything related to the debt ceiling.