Club for Growth Foundation released its 2019 and 2020 Alabama State Economic Scorecards, the gold-standard in publishing the voting records of elected officials. In addition, the Club for Growth Foundation released its new Missed Votes Scorecard for Alabama, which sheds light on which state legislators are doing their jobs by voting and which ones are not. Yellowhammer News published an exclusive report on the announcement.
The 2019 and 2020 Alabama State Economic Scorecards were created by the Club for Growth Foundation to educate the public about the voting records of the lawmakers who serve in the Alabama State Legislature. It is part of a larger scorecard project that the Club for Growth Foundation has created to educate the public about the economic positions taken by legislators in states across the country. View the Alabama State Economic Scorecards here.
Key Takeaways on Alabama’s 2020 Economic Scorecard:
Alabama Senate
Average Republican Score: 21%
Average Democrat Score: 6%
Highest-Rated Republican: Sen. Shay Shelnutt (SD-17) – 38%
Highest-Rated Democrat: Sen. Malika Sanders-Fortier (SD-23) – 10%
Lowest-Rated Republicans:
- Sen. Cam Ward (SD-14) – 12%
- Sen. Thomas Whatley (SD-27) – 12%
- Sen. Jack Williams (SD-34) – 12%
Lowest-Rated Democrats:
- Sen. David Burkette (SD-26) – 0%
- Sen. Linda Coleman-Madison (SD-20) – 0%
Alabama House
Average Republican Score: 15%
Average Democrat Score: 0%
Highest-Rated Republican: Rep. Andrew Sorrell (HD-03) – 69%
Highest-Rated Democrat: Rep. Prince Chestnut (HD-67) – 10%
Lowest-Rated Republican: Rep. Ritchie Whorton (HD-22) – 7%
Lowest-Rated Democrat: Several with 0%
Alabama State Missed Votes Scorecard
The Club for Growth Foundation also released its new Missed Votes Scorecard for Alabama’s 2020 legislative session. This scorecard simply calculates how often lawmakers show up to vote and how often they miss votes. For 2020, the results were:
Alabama Senate
The average Alabama state senator missed 15% of the total 323 floor votes. Senator Priscilla Dunn missed the most votes – 323 votes out of 323 – for a score of 100%. By missing only 4 votes, Sen. Steve Livingston received the best score of just 1%.
Alabama House
The average Alabama house member missed a whopping 30% of the total 359 floor votes. Rep. Juandalynn Givan (HD-60) missed the most votes – 249 votes out of 359 – for a score of 69%. By missing just 15 votes, Rep. Joe Faust (HD-94) had the best score of just 4%.
NOTE: Lawmakers miss votes for a whole host of reasons, including medical issues, family concerns, or prior commitments. But they may also miss votes because they are purposely ducking an issue or do not want to upset leadership. The Club for Growth Foundation makes no judgment on why a lawmaker misses votes. The Foundation simply publishes this quantified information for educational purposes only.