Who’s Missing? Voting and Not Voting in American Congress

Here's a bit of background for you.  According to Rule III of the Rules of the House of Representatives:

 

"Every Member shall be present within the Hall of the House during its sittings, unless excused or necessarily prevented, and shall vote on each question put, unless having a direct personal or pecuniary interest in the event of such question."

 

That is a pretty clear job requirement. 

 

Let's start by looking at the top ten Members of Congress when it comes to missing votes and the percentage of votes that they have missed:

 

Let's look at the top three Members when it comes to missing votes.  The number one "vote misser" by a very wide margin is Rep. Bobby L. Rush (D-Illinois) who has been a Member since 1993.  He has missed 1549 votes out of a total of 6906.  Unlike the Senate, it is customary for Members of the House to submit the reasons why they have missed a vote and how they would have voted had they been present; Rep. Rush has elected to do so in only 407 or 26.3 percent of the time.  His most common explanation for missing votes is due to medical matters (344 cases – he had a cancerous salivary gland removed in 2008).  In the current Congress, he ranks tenth in votes missed out of 434 voting Members, making it appear that he a chronic vote misser.

 

The number two "vote misser" is Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez (D-Illinois) who has also been a Member since 1993.  He has missed 1044 votes out of 6902 and has explained his missed vote in only 435 or 41.7 percent of cases.  His most common explanations for missing votes are either ambiguous or no reason given (335 cases) and personal or family matter (68 cases).  He ranks number 6 in votes missed in the current Congress.

 

The number three "vote misser" is Rep. Ruben Hinojosa (D-Texas) who has been a Member since 1997.  He has missed 874 votes out of 6906 and has explained his missed vote in only 128 or 14.6 percent of cases.  His most common explanations for missing votes are either ambiguous or no reason given (58 cases) or for a personal or family matter (55 cases).  He has the distinction of being in first place when it comes to missing votes in the current Congress.

 

Now, let's switch gears for a moment and look at the Senate.  Here is a listing of the top ten Senators when it comes to missing votes in 2015, the percentage of votes that they have missed and a history of missed votes going back to 2007:

 

 

As we know, four high profile Senators are running for the Republican Presidential nomination.  Let's look at their attendance records:

 

Obviously, hustling for votes has distracted these four gentlemen from one of their key duties as a Senator.

 

As I noted above, Members of the House of Representatives have the option to provide a reason for missing a vote.  Overall, only one in six absences are explained but those that do take the time to explain away their missed votes have some interesting excuses.  Here are screen captures showing some of them:

 

1.) Jeff Landry (R – Louisiana): I lost track of time.

 

 

2.) Ben Ray Lujan (D – New Mexico): I couldn't work the House voting machine.

 

 

3.) Luis Gutierrez (D – Illinois): I was busy protesting.

 

 

4.) Adam Smith (D – Washington): Oops, I hit the wrong button.

 

 

If you are interested, you can look up your own Member's voting and excuse record by clicking here.

 

When you take the time to look at the attendance records and the general lack of personal explanations provided by Members for their absences, it should come as no shock that Congress gets an approval rating in the very, very low double digits as shown on this graphic: