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We are professors of political science sharing academic research relevant to Utah. Posts are not peer reviewed and may discuss work in progress that is subject to future revision. Learn more. Each post reflects only its author’s views.
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Tag Archives: legislature
What do Romero and McAdams disagree on?
Looking across all 1,416 votes, Romero and McAdams disagreed only 64 times Ross Romero, the Democratic leader in Utah’s Senate, announced in September that he would run for Salt Lake County mayor.A few weeks later Ben McAdams, Romero’s Democratic colleague … Continue reading
Posted in Everything
Tagged cage match, ideology, legislature, rankings, representation, roll call votes, salt lake county
2 Comments
Do Wimmer and Sandstrom agree on everything?
Wimmer and Sandstrom have voted against each other 257 times We now have two Republican members of the state legislature planning to run against each other in the newly-created 4th Congressional district. It’s been clear for months that Carl Wimmer … Continue reading
Posted in Everything
Tagged absenteeism, cage match, grama, ideology, immigration, legislature, patrick henry caucus, rankings, representation, roll call votes
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Do Wimmer and Sandstrom agree on everything?
Are legislators faithful to their constituents?
The correlation between district partisanship and legislator ideology is not perfect, but it is nevertheless strongly positive. This analysis was performed by Robert Richards, a student research fellow at BYU’s Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy, in collaboration … Continue reading
Posted in Everything
Tagged ideology, legislature, nominate, representation, republic, roll call votes, single member districts, student research
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Are legislators faithful to their constituents?
Which legislators run the most bills?
Far and away, the most active sponsor of bills in the Utah legislature is Senator Curt Bramble. A couple weeks ago, I posted information about which legislators skip the most votes. Voting is an important part of a legislator’s job, … Continue reading
Posted in Everything
Tagged absenteeism, backdoor power, leadership, legislature, measurement, senate president, speaker of the house, sponsorship
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Which legislators run the most bills?
Do we live in a “compound Constitutional Republic” or something else?
There are no uses of the phrase “compound constitutional republic” in any American English book from 1800 through 2000. Last March, the Utah legislature passed a bill (HB 220) requiring Utah’s public schools to teach that the United States is … Continue reading
Posted in Everything
Tagged democracy, direct democracy, james madison, legislature, representation, republic
9 Comments
Why do legislators skip votes?
Legislative leaders skip way more votes than non-leaders. Let’s continue this study of absenteeism in the Utah legislature. Earlier, I showed that Utah legislators skip lots of votes. Then, I showed that legislators miss some types of votes more than … Continue reading
Posted in Everything
Tagged absenteeism, floor power, leadership, legislature
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Why do legislators skip votes?
Which legislators miss the most votes?
Five legislators missed more than 30% of their votes in 2011. Yesterday, I wrote that Utah’s legislators skip a LOT of votes. On average, 7.1% of Representatives missed each vote during the 2011 session, and 14.4% of Senators missed each … Continue reading
Posted in Everything
Tagged absenteeism, leadership, legislature, representation, roll call votes, senate president
5 Comments
When do Utah’s legislators skip votes?
Legislators are far less likely to skip party-line votes Recently, I wrote that Utah’s legislators skip a LOT of votes. Today, let’s ask why. There are two ways to come at this. First, we can ask which votes get skipped … Continue reading
Posted in Everything
Tagged absenteeism, leadership, legislature, roll call votes
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When do Utah’s legislators skip votes?
Are Utah’s legislators skipping votes?
Legislators are more likely to be absent than to vote “no.” A legislator’s most visible job is to cast votes in the legislature on behalf of his or her constituents, yet it turns out that Utah’s legislators miss a LOT … Continue reading
Posted in Everything
Tagged absenteeism, legislature, representation, republic, roll call votes
4 Comments
What are the conflicts between representation and redistricting?
Certain segments of Utah’s political class advocate for a rural-urban mix for the new congressional districts. The argument sounds something like the following: “It would be horrible for Utah to not have all Congressional seats invested in both the rural … Continue reading
Posted in Everything
Tagged congress, counties, james madison, legislature, redistricting, representation, rural, urban
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What are the conflicts between representation and redistricting?