They says they fear residents will misinterpret the information. Until we come up with these safeguards, I'm not sure that's something anyone's going to be safe with. House Minority Whip Patrice Arent, D-Holladay, argues that public voting records are the essence of democracy. The more information that's available, the better. The information already is available if residents travel to the Capitol and ask for the records, or request it over the phone.
Lawmakers already have instant access to votes on their computer network.
Legislative leaders referred the proposal to staff for study. Research and systems analyst Mark Allred reported back this week that the change could be made with no additional funding and the investment of one or two weeks staff programming time. The omission of the voting data was a policy decision made by legislators in the past, Allred said. The top two leaders of the Legislature expressed reservations about changing the policy, and ordered Allred to produce a sample voting record page for their inspection next month. Mansell, R-Sandy, says votes ebb and flow as bills are amended, defeated, resurrected or entirely overhauled.