How They Voted...On Everything

by: Juan Melli

Wed Mar 14, 2007 at 05:42:54 PM EDT

(The Assembly passed A-3252 by 79-0 today. Besides a huge victory for a more open government, I'm happy I don't need to find a FAX machine to get the tally. The bill now goes back to the Senate. - promoted by jmelli)

If you want to know how our legislators voted on a particular bill, you can't find that information online. You can call the Assembly clerk or Senate secretary's office. They'll ask for a number where they can FAX you the information. And if you don't have a FAX machine? "You can drop by the office to pick it up." Convenient, if you live on West State Street. Not so convenient for everyone else.

Those days may soon be behind us. Tomorrow the Assembly is set to consider a very important bill that should be welcomed by all regardless of political affiliation. (though that's not the case in practice - there are some afraid of giving the public this kind of "access"):

Assemblywoman Vainieri Huttle and Assemblymen Jack Conners (D-Camden), Mims Hackett (D-Essex) and Bob Gordon (D-Bergen) are sponsoring the measure (S-1662/A-3252) to require the Office of Legislative Services to make the complete voting records of legislators available on the Legislature's Web site.

This shouldn't be controversial - it's a simple vote. Either you're for a more open government or against it. Check back tomorrow - we will let you know how every legislator voted on this, even if that means finding a damned FAX machine.

Juan Melli :: How They Voted...On Everything

Tags: Bob Gordon, Valerie Vainieri Huttle, Jack Conners, Mims Hackett, (All Tags)

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How They Voted...On Everything | 6 comments

What about the nj legilsature ftp site? (0.00 / 0)

It has comma-delimited text files which contain every roll call vote.

by: Scott Weingart @ Wed Mar 14, 2007 at 22:31:01 PM UTC

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ooh (0.00 / 0)

I didn't know about that. How often is it updated? Very user-unfriendly, but it's better than nothing.

by: Juan Melli @ Wed Mar 14, 2007 at 22:39:44 PM UTC

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It's updated on a more or less next-day basis (0.00 / 0)

It is pretty user-unfriendly, though. The .txt files are comma-delimited and therefore are best handled in Excel or another spreadsheet program. The sort-by-bill ordering of the roll calls sucks (they should be sorted by vote number). This means you have to hunt through the file to you find recent votes.

by: Scott Weingart @ Thu Mar 15, 2007 at 01:31:53 AM UTC

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Oooo... (0.00 / 0)

Can it get extended to include how congresscritters and senators voted? The Thomas site is not exactly user-friendly.

The nom de plume has a long and distinguished history.

by: Tandalayo Scheisskopf @ Wed Mar 14, 2007 at 23:51:41 PM UTC

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For Congress, try this: (0.00 / 0)

OpenCongress.Org

It's much more user friendly than Thomas.

by: Jeff Gardner @ Thu Mar 15, 2007 at 02:51:10 AM UTC

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? (0.00 / 0)

I thought that this was voted on awhile ago, and that votes will be posted online soon. Maybe I was wrong.

John Adler for Congress
http://www.adlerforcongress.com

by: MAS117 @ Fri Mar 16, 2007 at 05:48:25 AM UTC

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How They Voted...On Everything | 6 comments