House Republicans agree to halt secret votes.

House Republicans in the General Assembly have assented to end their practice of holding secret subcommittee votes to kill bills, which they’ve used to kill hundreds (perhaps thousands) of bills in the past few years. Nobody with two brain cells to rub together thought it was a good idea. This practice that would have been used as a bludgeon against incumbent Republicans come November, so this change is in part a survival tactic. Presumably this change isn’t official yet, but we can expect a unanimous vote in favor of rescinding the secret voting when it’s made formal.

Published by Waldo Jaquith

Waldo Jaquith (JAKE-with) is an open government technologist who lives near Char­lottes­­ville, VA, USA. more »

3 replies on “House Republicans agree to halt secret votes.”

  1. Amazing that a practice that nobody with two brain cells to rub together thought was a good idea could survive in the Republican-controlled house for so long.

  2. I wouldn’t be surprised if the find another way to circumvent the process. Sending bills to languish or die in the Rules Committee perhaps? Or, instead of killing bills with unrecorded votes, the bills they don’t want to vote on are just never considered. “Left in committee” is the official term. I hope I’m wrong.

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