99.9% of votes in the House are 149-0 (The Speaker rarely votes).
The members know when a contested vote is coming up and they either are there to vote or have left instructions on how to vote.
...
If a Rep doesn't want anyone voting for them, they each have a key they can use to lock their voting machine.
This is the stupidest non-issue.
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... The Members vote for one another with consent from their colleagues. He is also correct that if Members did not want others voting for them, they can simply remove their key.
Also, Any Member can call for "Strict Enforcement" which means that the House Sergeants will not allow any other Member to vote for another.
If a vote is cast opposite of a Member's wishes, they also have the ability to record the opposition in the House Journal, therefore facilitating complete transparency for the public.
On every close vote, especially contentious ones, "verification" is called and the "ghost vote" is corrected by either "striking their name" or verifying the actual vote.
What is the sinister act occurring in your mind? The Member will have to answer for their vote in some way so I don't understand the outcry. Oh, and I hate Debbie Riddle.
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bern said:
It sure seemed like Reps were voting their own conscience on their collegues behalf(ves).
So, does this practice free up time for the golf courses and junkets?
1.) I certainly see that the news report tried to show that (, but believe it or not, there is integrity between the Members on the Floor. Even the most ruthless Members will not vote opposite their colleague's wishes because they know they may be in the same scenario at a later date and would not want that happening to them. The whole "turn about is fair play" thing. In addition, as stated earlier, it's easy to "change" your vote in the House Journal and on a contentious vote, the so-called "ghost voting" disappears because colleagues don't want to make a mistake on behalf of another. On these votes, consent was definitely given by a Member. The House Floor is a relatively small space and you really can't get away with shenanigans. If one tries, they are branded by the pack and their bargaining capital is zero. This is not a good place to be if they need to accomplish something, however minor, for their District.
2.) There are those Members who do use this to free up their time for "other stuff", but when close votes occur, they are always busted due to the rules already in place.
Don't get me wrong, I think all citizens deserve integrity from their Legislators and "ghost voting" certainly questions that integrity to some degree. Minor rule changes should be considered to make the process "cleaner", but overall, the process in place is pretty good.
