St. Joe-Benton Harbor News

COVID-19 infection rates and hospitalizations weren’t the only thing on the rise in recent months in Michigan, as the state Legislature witnessed its own spike of sorts, a significant increase in the number of lawmakers absent from roll call votes.

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 due to his fulfilling obligations with the Reserve, according to coverage by Michigan 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 Michigan House of Representatives, 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.