Club for Growth Foundation has released its Missed Votes Kentucky scorecard for the General Assembly’s 2021 regular session.
The newly launched Missed Votes Scorecards calculate how often lawmakers show up to vote and how often they miss votes.
Lawmakers miss votes for a whole host of reasons, including medical issues, family concerns, prior commitments, purely political motivations, or other reasons.
“Constituents need to know the missed votes records of their representatives so they can decide for themselves if elected officials are avoiding a difficult vote or have a legitimate reason for missing a particular vote,” said David McIntosh, Club for Growth Foundation president. “Sadly, this information is often not available, and that is why the Club for Growth Foundation is publishing Missed Votes scorecards.”
This scorecard is based on a review of all floor votes taken in the Kentucky General Assembly from January 5, 2021, to March 30, 2021.
House of Representatives
The average Kentucky House member missed seven percent of 428 total floor votes (30 votes), with Republican senators on average missing six percent of all floor votes and Democrat senators on average missing 13 percent of all floor votes.
Only two of the 100 state representatives did not miss a single vote, including GOP Rep. Samara Heavrin. The other representative to not miss a vote was Steve Sheldon, a Republican from Bowling Green.
Senate
The average Kentucky senator missed six percent of 385 total floor votes (23 votes). Republican senators on average missed three percent of all floor votes and Democrat senators on average missed 17 percent of all floor votes.
Only one of Kentucky’s 38 state senators, Majority Floor Leader Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, missed zero votes.
Sen. Steve Meredith, R-Leitchfield, is one of only three Kentucky senators to miss only one floor vote.
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
