6 August 2018 — 1340 mdt

A complete accounting of the votes cast
on the call for a special legislative session

At The Montana Post, Pete Talbot, after much searching, found the final tally for the failed call for a special legislative session to meddle with two citizens initiatives, I-185 (extending expanded Medicaid and paying for it with a tobacco tax increase) and I-186 (requiring that mining operations not require treating water in perpetuity).

Because Secretary of State Stapleton’s report contained only the names of the legislators casting votes for or against calling the session, I’ve prepared a spreadsheet listing all 150 legislators, their votes and whether they abstained, and their party, district, and city. Telephone numbers, and mailing and email addresses are available from the roster on the legislature’s website. Stapleton would not have annoyed the public had his tally contained as much information as my spreadsheet.

In general, Montana does not do a good job of reporting legislative votes. Online, only the names of the legislators and the votes they cast are presented (example). The U.S. Senate’s reports of votes contain names, party, and state (example). Whatever the rationale, Montana’s minimalist approach deprives citizens of important information.

Because I cover the legislature, I’ve written a script that arranges the legislature’s votes into a form that allows me to match them with party and district when I import them into a database, but not everyone has the patience or skill to do that. Montana needs to do better, and can.