Posted on 03/10/2010 11:29:12 AM PST by SoonerStorm09
OLYMPIA, Wash. -- In the Washington State House of Representatives one person, one vote is preached, but not practiced. Too often the reality is one legislator, how many buttons can she push?
A long-standing House practice allows a member to vote for an absent member or, in some cases several members. The practice has become an issue in the Congressional race to replace Rep. Brian Baird, D-3rd Dist. and the subject of a scathing editorial condemning it in The Olympian.
The double-voting practice appears to violate the House’s own procedural rules:
“Every member who was in the house when the question was put shall vote unless, for special reasons, excused by the house…Upon a division and count of the house on the question only members at their desks within the bar of the house shall be counted.”(Emphasis added.)
When House members vote, they do so by pushing a button with the result then being displayed on one of two large electronic tote boards. Unlike the Washington State Senate, the House does not take oral roll call votes unless specifically requested.
(Excerpt) Read more at libertylive.org ...
Yes, I think you should have to show up to vote.
Still better than San Fransisco city council, where apparently they have rigged the software so if you don’t press the button, it just votes YES.
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