Michigan State House in session before the pandemic | legislature.mi.gov/
Michigan State House in session before the pandemic | legislature.mi.gov/
While Michigan has experienced an increase in COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations, the state’s Legislature also saw a spike in missed votes during the previous term.
During the Legislature’s two-year term, lawmakers missed more votes than each of the three previous Legislatures, with approximately 75% of those missed votes taking place in 2020, according to coverage by Michigan Capitol Confidential.
The missed votes were highest in the state Senate for Sen. Adam Hollier (D-Detroit), a U.S. Army Reservist who said exactly half of his 102 absences from votes were because of his fulfilling obligations with the Reserve, according to Capitol Confidential. His 102 missed votes were out of 1,002 total roll call votes.
Yet, state senators still fell far behind the number of missed votes in the Michigan House of Representatives.
State Rep. Steve Marino (R-Harrison Twp.) had the highest number of missed roll call votes in the state House, missing 303 of 1,027, according to Capitol Confidential. Marino said he experienced health problems during the session, which contributed to his absences.
Marino was followed in the Michigan House by state Rep. Kristy Pagan (D-Canton Twp.), who missed 301 votes, according to Capitol Confidential.
Hollier had nearly twice as many missed votes as state Sen. Peter Lucido (R-Shelby Twp.), who had the second-most missed votes in the state Senate with 57.
Overall, the number of missed votes for the Legislature as a total was higher than it had been during the entire two-year term of each of the previous three legislatures, according to Capitol Confidential. The previous legislatures missed 3,641, 2,283 and 2,789 votes over two-year terms, while the current Legislature had 3,840 votes missed during its two-year term.
Out of those missed roll call votes, 3,072 occurred just during 2020, a time when some of the state’s lawmakers spent time in quarantine related to the coronavirus pandemic, according to Capitol Confidential. Only 768 of the missed roll call votes, by contrast, came during 2019.
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