McHenry County Blog

When people go to Springfield and watch the legislature in action—at least the Illinois House of Representatives—almost all come away with one thought:

They don’t vote their own switches.

Isn't that why we send them to Springfield?

As those who watch C-Span know, U.S. representatives have a card they must use to cast votes. It’s a scandal if someone other than the congressman uses it.

In Springfield it is a regular occurrence.

One legislator from Rockford, Pat North, lost his re-election because the Rockford newspaper ran a picture of a staffer voting his switch one afternoon while he was out playing golf. It was on the front page.

There are many more legitimate reasons for letting someone else vote one's switch.

For example, I was assigned to be part of the mid-1990’s team, led by House Majority Leader State Rep. Bob Churchill, to read every line of the welfare reform bill.

Hard to do that on the House floor, so we did it in his office, right behind the House chambers. Close enough to come out if a roll call were verified.

(If a vote is close, the losing side may call for a "verification." Names of all the representatives on the winning side are called. The challenger tries to figure out which ones are missing. Then, he calls out the names of those he thinks are not around. Ones who do not show up on the House floor have their names stricked from the roll call. If enough are removed, the proposition falls.)

Usually the person voting a missing legislator's switch is his seatmate, although prior to the most recent "upgrade" of the voting system, it was possible to jam a paper clip into one's switch. Of course, that meant one way. The switch in the back row I am remembering had the "Yes" switch always on.)

My seatmate Tom Johnson certainly did know my voting predilections (with some exceptions, I found out, on local tax hiking bills). We were pretty close ideologically.

If one has bills in the Senate, the committee hearing times do not necessarily conform to times when the House is not in session.

I had a lot of them in the 1970’s and just couldn’t be two places at once.

Even if one is working the House floor for an upcoming vote—back when there was a real calendar and one actually had a clue when a bill might be called—one can’t always get back to one’s voting switch in time to vote.

Hence, the need for a seatmate’s help.

Some use staffers.

Since ordinary members only have a half a secretary, leaders are the pretty much the only ones who can take that route. The leaders are rarely on the House floor.

(Cary’s State Senator Jack Schaffer caught some heat when that happened, but he had probably given the staffer a list of how he wanted to vote on each bill.)

But, sometimes allowing seatmates to vote one’s switch can have unintended consequences.

In the 1970’s, when I could have been classified as a moderate and, I’m sure, some thought liberal Republican, my seat mate Susan Catania (one of the sponsors of ERA who qualified for the label "liberal" under anyone's definition) got me an Independent Voters of Illinois “Best Legislator” award that I surely would not have earned on my own.

Tomorrow, the infamous 1978 veto session 40% pay hike vote.

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The two photos of me are from the late 1970's.