Vote Entering - Vote Breakdown
The vote breakdown is a record of how the members of a legislative chamber voted on a piece of legislation. It contains a list of members voting "Yea" and "Nay," and most legislatures provide a list of the members who were absent and/or abstained from voting. A few, however, do not have a list of members that did not cast a vote (South Carolina, Tennessee, and the Michigan House of Representatives). A few other states states only list the "Nay" votes and those who were absent and/or abstained from voting (Oregon and Hawaii).
The official voting record from the state legislature website should be saved as a pdf or a screenshot. Do not copy and paste the voting record into a Google Doc. Do not use voting records from any other source than the state legislature website. This also applies to LegiScan, whose voting records to not maintain their usefulness when saved as a pdf.
If you are dealing with a legislature that does not include a complete list of ALL members of the legislature on their vote breakdowns, then you should keep the roster of the legislature handy. This is useful for states that do not provide a list of the members who were absent and/or abstained from voting on the vote breakdown (South Carolina, Tennessee, and the Michigan House), and states that only list the "Nay" votes and those who were absent and/or abstained from voting (Oregon and Hawaii).
The location of the vote breakdown varies by state. Some states include the vote breakdown in the bill history, some provide a separate link to a pdf file or html window, and others require a search of the legislative journal. Here are some helpful tips for locating the vote breakdown:
(1) Look for the vote breakdown itself or a link to the vote breakdown listed next to the vote in the bill history. If a link is provided, it could be a link to the vote breakdown or the journal where the vote breakdown can be found.
- Idaho - H 202 (House Passage), 2017.
- Illinois - HB 40 (Senate Passage), 2017.
(2) Look for an area on the website that provides links to the vote breakdowns. If this is how you locate a vote breakdown for a specific state, carefully examine each link provided - make sure you're selecting the correct vote.
- Connecticut - HB 5730 (House Passage), 2017.
(3) Look for dates assigned to the votes and match the date with the date of vote. You should also carefully examine the votes when doing this as well, as multiple votes may be cast in one day that deal with the same bill.
- California - AB 18 (House Passage), 2017.
(4) Look for links to the House or Senate journal listed next to the vote on the bill history. Or, if there are no links to the journal in the bill history, and the journal is the only way to locate a vote breakdown, then note the date of the vote and locate the House or Senate journal on the legislature's website.
- Michigan - SB 8 (House Passage), 2017.
- Colorado - HB 1242 (House Passage), 2017.
(5) When looking at the House or Senate Journal, use the the Find tool. When searching for the vote breakdown, type only the number, and not the prefix. States vary in how bills are listed in the journal: some spell out the prefix ("House Bill" "Senate Bill"), others use the standard acronyms ("HB" or "SB"), and others have an alternate prefix listed. Once you think you have located the vote, look at the language in the journal that introduces the vote breakdown to make sure that you have the correct vote.
- Michigan - SB 574 (Senate Passage), 2017.
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