else in their party or vote "present", in which case their vote does not count in tallying the vote positively or negatively. Anyone who votes for the other party's candidate would face serious consequences, as was the case when Democrat James Traficant voted for Republican Dennis Hastert in 2001 (107th Congress). In response, the Democrats stripped him of his seniority and he lost all of his committee posts. Upon election, the new speaker is sworn in by the dean of the United States House of Representatives, the chamber's longest-serving member. Additionally, it is customary for the outgoing speaker, or the minority leader, to hand the speaker's gavel to the new speaker, as a mark of the peaceful transition of power. Eligibility of non-members As the Constitution does not explicitly state that the speaker must be an incumbent member of the House, it is arguably possible for a non-member to be elected. In the past, representatives have voted for someone who was not then a member of the House. Every person elected speaker, however, has been a member. The issue of whether non-members are eligible to be speaker has been discussed for hundreds of years. In 1787, while the proposed Constitution was being considered, Tench Coxe publicly wrote the following: The house of representatives is not, as the Senate, to have a president chosen for them from without their body, but are to elect their speaker from their own number.... In modern times, the Congressional Research Service and others have argued that a non-member is constitutionally eligible to become speaker. That view is predominant but not unanimous, and scholars having a different position include political scientist Diana Schaub, who argues by implication that, "A non-member Speaker would be the only office-holder in our system not bound by [the constitutionally-required] oath." History The first speaker of the House, Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania, was elected to office on April 1, 1789, the day the House organized itself at the start of the 1st Congress. He served two non-consecutive terms in the speaker's chair, 1789–1791 (1st Congress) and 1793–1795 (3rd Congress). As the Constitution does not state the duties of the speaker, the speaker's role has largely been shaped by traditions and customs that evolved over time. Scholars are divided as to whether early speakers played largely ceremonial and impartial roles or whether they were more active partisan actors. From early in its existence,