Hmmm, have to sort of wonder just how far up the scale that one goes... Federal levels of Congress too? Probably... which means the "Voting records" that my history teacher was so keen on having us read -- were total Bullsh*t. Which means that "Watching to see how your Rep votes on what issues" is a total crock, too. So- HOW exactly are we supposed to be up to date on all the issues and keep an eye on our politicians and choose the good ones? Hmmmm?!
No, it certainly doesn't work this way in Congress. You can see the voting on C-SPAN if you like, but you have to swipe your id badge or something like that in order to register your vote.
State houses are going to be varied and probably generally much much less formal. In NY, it was only in the past few months that they did away with the procedure that a representative could sign in at the beginning of a session and her caucus leader could vote by proxy for her for the remainder of the session.
However, there is probably quite a bit that this story is not reporting. First, we don't know what the matters up for consideration were. My understanding is that the overwhelming majority of actions that a legislature take are tedious housekeeping or declaring Sesame Seed Bagel Month or whatever, and are approved by acclimation, and in those cases, it may not be unreasonable to convey consensus without everyone having to come back into the room. Second, I'd fall off my chair if the by-laws didn't include a procedure by which any legislator could call for a more rigorous vote on any individual measure. Granted, I don't know for certain that either of these things is in place in Austin and if there's one statehouse that would be FUBAR it would be them, but I will withhold judgment on how alarming this is.
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(no subject)
Date: 2007-09-28 10:27 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-09-29 12:12 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-09-29 02:05 am (UTC)State houses are going to be varied and probably generally much much less formal. In NY, it was only in the past few months that they did away with the procedure that a representative could sign in at the beginning of a session and her caucus leader could vote by proxy for her for the remainder of the session.
However, there is probably quite a bit that this story is not reporting. First, we don't know what the matters up for consideration were. My understanding is that the overwhelming majority of actions that a legislature take are tedious housekeeping or declaring Sesame Seed Bagel Month or whatever, and are approved by acclimation, and in those cases, it may not be unreasonable to convey consensus without everyone having to come back into the room. Second, I'd fall off my chair if the by-laws didn't include a procedure by which any legislator could call for a more rigorous vote on any individual measure. Granted, I don't know for certain that either of these things is in place in Austin and if there's one statehouse that would be FUBAR it would be them, but I will withhold judgment on how alarming this is.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-09-30 12:20 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-09-28 10:42 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-10-01 07:56 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-09-29 02:45 am (UTC)