Why Do Our Elected Officials Have To Be Present In The House Or Senate To Vote.......

[global1]

for bills? I know that on the surface this sounds like a dumb question - but - we elected these people to represent us and it seems unreasonable in the 21st century - with all of our technology - that a Senator or Congressman/woman has to be in the Senate or House chamber to register a vote. Rather archaic I'd say.

In my opinion - any of our elected representatives in D.C. should be able to vote on every issue that comes up - whether they are there or not. If they choose not to vote on an issue that is a different story - but at least they should be able to vote on everything.

I know that some of the answers I'll get will say - its politics. That votes are called sometimes on purpose when our elected officials are not present - so a particular party can get an edge.

I say - its dumb. Let our Senators and Congressmen/women vote no matter where they are. Seems to me we'd get a lot more accomplished. There would be less carping about who did or who didn't vote on an issue. And a lot of the cowards - afraid to take a stand one way or another - would have one less excuse as to why they didn't vote (oh - I was away campaigning).

[ericgtr]

1. They are paid representatives

No reason they can't go to work and do their job like the rest of us.

[bunkerbuster1]

3. But many of the rest of us can tele-commute, at least some days.

Why not Congressmen? I disagree with the OP about making it available all the time, but for key, important votes, they shouldn't be chained to their offices in DC if there's pressing business back in their district or state.

[bunkerbuster1]

2. Sounds like a worthy constitutional amendment.

I think there'd have to be some limits on the number of times you could tele-commute to Congress--after all, they should be there most of the time, debating in person. But it's crazy that there's no provision for any absentee voting at all.

Surely we could work it out to enable there to be more constituent servicing. Of course, we'd want to bundle this with serious public-financing legislation, or else some would simply use this to raise mo' money.

[Democrat 4 Ever]

4. If they didn't have to be present to vote some of the repugs would

never make it to DC. They would just phone it in from the Cayman Islands. I like that these people have to come to DC and stand up on the floor the House or in the well of the Senate and debate. I want their words on the record and not some weaselly little yea or nay and the ability to hide from the consequences of their actions. Hell's bells, they already have a three and half day work week, good pay and excellent bennies. The least we can expect is for them to show up for work. IMHO

[MNDemNY]

5. No! I'd like to see them REQUIRED to attend sessions.

They should put in the time or leave office.

[AlGore-08.com]

7. Let's play Devil's Advocate - - what if they represent Nola and Katrina hits.

Do they have to stay in D.C. and vote? Or can they go to Nola and try to help their constituents?

The other half of the job that they're supposed to help their constituents.

[MNDemNY]

8. Other than "photo-ops" tell me what

a Rep. or Sen. could REALLY do to help from such a scene, that they could not do as well or better from Washington. (Hand holding, etal, imo are just photo ops.)

[AlGore-08.com]

6. So they can have an excuse to not vote when a bill is too controversial

Seriously.

As long as they have to be physically present to vote, they always have being out of the building for urgent reasons as an excuse to duck the really hot issues. If they had some kind of mobile devise that can't be hacked into (if that's possible) which allowed them to vote wherever they were, they'd all have to vote on whatever the latest piece of "gotcha!" legislation is.

[MethuenProgressive]

9. Because they were expected to listen to arguments and debate before voting.

Back in the day they never thought a Senator would skip out of town to attend a fundraiser instead of voting on a resolution threatening another nation with armed force.