I have a silly question about missing Senate votes.

[FlyingSquirrel]

(And House votes too)

I'm in a Union. Whenever there's an important vote that comes up, and you cannot be there in person to vote, you can vote by proxy (it's like an absentee ballot kind of - you give it to a union official in advance or another Union member).

Is there some reason they can't manage to create a system like that? Or perhaps by phone? Some kind of secure link? ANYTHING???

This is not the 18th century anymore. Why should Senators ALWAYS be present to record their votes? It's not like they read the dang bills anyway - they can show up, vote and leave without even knowing exactly what it is they are voting on, so why not vote from a distance if necessary? If they wanted to limit that to a certain number per session that would be fine.

[MADem]

1. Not showing up is sometimes a tactic, like voting 'present'.

And it has an added advantage, because not showing up has an air of "plausible deniability" about it.

If it's a tricky vote, well, you miss your flight to get back to DC, or you get a flat tire, or what have you.

Then you can say you feel one way about the issue to one group, and another way to another group. And since you aren't on record, it's tough to pin you down.

The legislators LOVE the system as it stands. They will NEVER, EVER agree to change it, no matter how easy it might be to vote from anywhere. They LIKE being able to duck a vote. It is a perk of the system, you see.

[FlyingSquirrel]

2. That's ridiculous.

Oh well, Democracy at its finest. Even when they duck the vote though they can be attacked for it (as we can all see here on DU).

[MADem]

3. No, unfortunately, it's reality.

The Professional Vote Duckers make sure the excuse is good when they miss the vote--missed flight, car trouble, or away on other business/too far to travel, and it is usually accompanied by the "one vote wouldn't change the result" excuse.

The leadership does do some serious vote counting and aligning ahead of a vote if they want a particular result--they'll herd those cats and twist those arms. If they actually NEED someone there to get them over the top, they'll delay the vote (and we're the majority, now, we make those decisions) until the person can get there.