WASHINGTON, D.C. — Club for Growth Foundation today released its Missed Votes Montana scorecard for the State Legislature’s 2021 regular session. The newly launched Missed Votes Scorecards calculate how often lawmakers show up to vote and how often they miss votes.
Lawmakers miss votes for a whole host of reasons, including medical issues, family concerns, prior commitments, purely political motivations, or other reasons. The Club for Growth Foundation generally doesn’t analyze why a lawmaker has missed a vote and is simply publishing this quantified information for educational purposes only.
According to Club for Growth Foundation President David McIntosh, “Constituents need to know the missed votes records of their representatives so they can decide for themselves if elected officials are avoiding a difficult vote or have a legitimate reason for missing a particular vote. Sadly, this information is often not available, and that is why the Club for Growth Foundation is publishing Missed Votes scorecards.”
This scorecard is based on a review of all floor votes taken in the Montana State Legislature from January 7, 2021 to April 29, 2021. There are inherent limitations in judging the overall qualifications of any legislator based on how many votes he or she has missed, and the Club for Growth Foundation does not endorse or oppose any legislator for public office.
Key Insights
Montana Senate
The average Montana senator missed 0 percent of 1,910 total floor votes, with Republican senators on average missing 1 percent of all floor votes and Democrat senators on average missing 0 percent of all floor votes. Sen. Duane Ankney (SD-20) missed the most votes – 108 votes out 1,910 – for a score of 6 percent missed votes. By not missing a single vote, the following senators received a perfect attendance score:
- Bryce Bennett (SD-50)
- Kenneth Bogner (SD-19)
- Carlie Boland (SD-12)
- Jill Cohenour (SD-42)
- Janet Ellis (SD-41)
- Steve Fitzpatrick (SD-10)
- Pat Flowers (SD-32)
- Mike Fox (SD-16)
- Chris Friedel (SD-26)
- Bruce Gillespie (SD-09)
- Greg Hertz (SD-06)
- Brian Hoven (SD-13)
- Tom Jacobsen (SD-11)
- Douglas Kary (SD-22)
- Tom McGillvray (SD-23)
- Jennifer Pomnichowski (SD-33)
- Christopher Pope (SD-31)
- Keith Regier (SD-03)
- Walt Sales (SD-35)
- Daniel Saloman (SD-47)
- Diane Sands (SD-49)
- Jason Small (SD-21)
- Cary Smith (SD-27)
- Gordon Vance (SD-34)
Montana House of Representatives
The average Montana House member missed 1 percent of 2,006 total floor votes, with Republican members on average missing 1 percent of all floor votes and Democrat members on average missing 1 percent of all floor votes. Rep. Rynalea Whiteman Pena (HD-41) missed the most votes – 143 out of 2,006, – for a score of 7 percent missed votes. By not missing a single vote, the following house members received a perfect attendance score:
- Kim Abbott (HD-83)
- Geraldine Custer (HD-39)
- Mary Ann Dunwell (HD-84)
- Casey Knudsen (HD-33)
- Brandon Ler (HD-35)
- Bob Phalen (HD-36)