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How Many Votes Did Your Member of Congress Miss Last Year?

The numbers compare rather well with other states.

The two members of the Virginia House delegation who missed the most votes last year are already on their way out the door and not running for re-election. Republican Robert Hurt missed 21 votes and Republican Randy Forbes missed 15. The next highest number of missed votes was Democrat Don Beyer, who missed 12 votes. He says that’s because of the leadership change in the House last October. 

"The first vote typically every day is 15 minutes long. But under Speaker Boehner it actually be 35 minutes or 40 minutes. So people would often show up late. When Speaker Ryan took over, there was a move to actually make it 15 minutes."

Stephen Farnsworth at the University of Mary Washington says members of Congress cast hundreds of votes. So missing three percent here or there is actually a pretty good record. 

“The numbers compare very favorably with most states. It suggests that the members of Congress from Virginia take their jobs very seriously, even I might add, if they’re in their last term."

That would be Republican Scott Rigell of Virginia Beach. He’s the only member of the Virginia delegation — and one of only 24 members of the House — with zero missed votes last year. 

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