Yesterday, I wrote that narrow votes are extremely rare in the Utah legislature, as are party-line votes. Instead, the legislature shows a clear preference for consensus voting, with majorities of Democrats and Republicans voting on the same side.
Of course, there are exceptions to every rule. Today, I thought I would post the 20 closest votes in each chamber from the 2012 session. You can click the bill’s number to learn about the bill; you can click the vote totals to see how each legislator voted. The “vote margin” is the differences between the number of “ayes” and “nays.”
You can find tables like this for past legislative sessions at my other site.
The 20 closest votes in the 2012 Utah House of Representatives
Bill | Vote type | Ayes-Nays-Absent | Vote margin |
HB0325 | House/ failed | 35-36-4 | 1 |
HB0424 | House/ failed | 36-37-2 | 1 |
HB0210 | House/ uncircled | 37-35-3 | 2 |
SB0210 | House/ passed 3rd reading | 38-36-1 | 2 |
HB0210 | House/ failed | 36-39-0 | 3 |
HB0298 | House/ floor amendment | 38-35-2 | 3 |
HB0090 | House/ passed 3rd reading | 38-34-3 | 4 |
SB0062 | House/ passed 3rd reading | 39-35-1 | 4 |
HB0414 | House/ passed 3rd reading | 38-33-4 | 5 |
SB0039 | House/ passed 3rd reading | 39-34-2 | 5 |
HB0022 | House/ passed 3rd reading | 39-33-3 | 6 |
HB0119 | House/ failed | 32-38-5 | 6 |
HJR013 | House/ passed 3rd reading | 38-32-5 | 6 |
SB0041 | House/ passed 3rd reading | 39-32-4 | 7 |
SB0082 | House/ floor amendment | 38-31-6 | 7 |
SB0098 | House/ passed 3rd reading | 39-32-4 | 7 |
HB0140 | House/ passed 3rd reading | 41-33-1 | 8 |
HB0049 | House/ floor amendment | 38-29-8 | 9 |
HB0051 | House/ passed 3rd reading | 40-31-4 | 9 |
HB0068 | House/ passed 3rd reading | 40-30-5 | 10 |
The 20 closest votes in the 2012 Utah Senate
Bill | Vote type | Ayes-Nays-Absent | Vote margin |
SB0059 | Senate/ failed | 14-15-0 | 1 |
SB0211 | Senate/ passed 2nd reading | 15-14-0 | 1 |
HB0213 | Senate/ floor amendment | 15-12-2 | 3 |
SB0044 | Senate/ failed | 11-14-4 | 3 |
SJR022 | Senate/ passed 2nd reading | 16-13-0 | 3 |
SJR026 | Senate/ floor amendment | 16-13-0 | 3 |
HB0229 | Senate/ failed | 12-16-1 | 4 |
HB0448 | Senate/ passed 2nd reading | 16-12-1 | 4 |
SB0112 | Senate/ failed | 12-16-1 | 4 |
SB0210 | Senate/ passed 3rd reading | 16-12-1 | 4 |
HB0139 | Senate/ passed 3rd reading | 17-12-0 | 5 |
SB0085 | Senate/ passed 2nd reading | 17-12-0 | 5 |
SB0139 | Senate/ failed | 11-16-2 | 5 |
HB0107 | Senate/ passed 3rd reading | 17-11-1 | 6 |
HB0220 | Senate/ passed 2nd reading | 17-11-1 | 6 |
HB0250 | Senate/ passed 3rd reading | 17-11-1 | 6 |
HB0298 | Senate/ passed 2nd reading | 16-10-3 | 6 |
SB0107 | Senate/ failed | 11-17-1 | 6 |
HB0041 | Senate/ failed | 11-18-0 | 7 |
HB0081 | Senate/ passed 2nd reading | 16-9-4 | 7 |