Votes Overview
MDN's unique database of legislative roll calls covers the significant legislative votes going back to 1995 -- further back than any other online record of significant Missouri legislative votes, as best I (Phill Brooks) know.
The role calls cover only significant, news worthy votes for which there is a clear issue. Excluded are votes on amendments or substitutes which contain a laundry-list of topics making it impossible to discern the issue upon which legislators actually were voting and also making it impossible to write a simple description on what the vote was about.
Unfortunately, the legislature has begun routinely passing these omnibus, multi-subject amendments and substitutes that are in clear violation of the state Supreme Court's decisions affirming a constitutional provisions restricting bills to a single subject and prohibiting changing the original purpose of a bill.
The descriptions of the votes are written by MDN's director, Phill Brooks, who has covered the legislature for one-half century, making him dean of the statehouse press corps.
Vote List
At the top of the vote list are three buttons you can click to adjust the order of the votes, the date the role call was taken, the bill form/number and description.
The first click will display the list in descending order of the category. A second click of the same button will display the list in ascending order.
When you first load VOTES.HTM or call up a new year, the vote list wil be in descending order by date, with the latest vote for that year at the top.
The sort-order of the column you selected is identified by the arrow in the button. ↓ indicates a descending order while ↑ indicates an ascending order.
The Date button sorts the list in numerical order, putting the latest vote at the top in descending order.
The Chamber: Description button sorts the list in alphabetical order. So in descending order, House chamber votes will be at the top of the list, followed by Senate chamber votes.
The Bill sort is a bit complicated. There are two components to the sort, the bill type (in alphabetical order) followed by the bill number in numerical order (asending or descending order). So, in descending order, HBs would be at the top of the list followed by HJRs, followed by SBs followed SJRs.
One exception are votes such as resolutions, member compaints and confirmation These votes always will be placed at the bottom of the list, regardless whether the selection is in ascending or descending order.
The default order when the VOTES.HTM is loaded in descending order of roll-call dates. So, the latest vote will be at the top.
To see details of a vote including how individual legislators voted along with links to the bill, simply double click the vote in which you are interested.
At the bottom is a selection box to select a different year for the votes display. There also is a selection box to limit the display to the votes taken in a specific chamber. Switching the year or chamber automatically with update the vote list to your selection.
The View simply displays the details of a vote for which you made just one rather than a double click. The vote you selected will be displayed in red.