A roll-call vote (by House Rule) last a maximum of 3 minutes.

Whenever the board appears to be overwhelmingly one-sided (let’s say it looks 80-20 for one side – which is obvious when you see the board lit up), the Speaker can (and always does) as for unanimous consent to cut the voting short.

Even if he doesn’t cut it short, it’s 3 minutes tops. Let’s say we have 20 possible votes. That’s one hour. (Keep in mind, it could be 20 minutes if cut to 1 minute due to overwhelming margin).

We are in chamber 3 days a week during the 6 months you mentioned (which is for another discussion as I feel we should shorten our session). Here’s how it works for the most part:

Tuesday (noon) We pray, pledge, roll-call our attendance….leave after an hour for Caucus lunches…somtimes return in afternoon, oftentimes don’t.

Wednesday (10:00) We pray, pledge, roll-call our attendance….might work through lunch to 2.

Thursday (10:00) We pray, pledge, roll-call our attendance, have 2 or 3 congratulatory recognitions (state championship teams come into chamber, etc). Leave by noon.

Oh….and the pray, pledge, roll-call attendance usually incorporates at least 30 minutes most days.

Trust me, “time” is not an issue with roll-call. Of course, it’s one the opponents in the chambers use.

Hope this didn’t come off as combative, just trying to type quickly while kids getting ready for bed.

Thanks for posting! Come back often.

Nathan

Thanks,

Ralph H. Bell Jr.

Midlands Area Coordinaotr
ABATE fo South Carolina

I saw the news clip on TV recently and could not believe Harrell’s attitude. He is against “regular people” knowing how their elected representatives vote???

Thanks Nathan!

Thank you to everyone who has posted today and emailed me concerning this common-sense reform.

Obviously, there’s been alot of talk and calls-to-action in communities throughout our state today and, if these continue, it will make passage of Representative Haley’s bill much more likely.

As I shared at each stop yesterday – don’t be fooled. Many will soon begin to talk-the-talk and say they are for “On the Record Voting” but be sure they don’t give excuses that would water-down the transparency you deserve from Rep. Haley’s bill. You’ll hear “we don’t need it on such-and-such vote…..it will take to long to do it for such-and-such vote…it costs $55 each time….why take time if the vote is gonna be 90-30 or 100-20 or 110-10….”

If you take time to email your friends and neighbors….email your elected officials…write your local paper….you will see democracy in action and you will be able to one day hold each of us accoutable by knowing how we voted in Columbia.

Nathan