Congressional Attendance and Voting Participation

What share of votes do members of Congress actually participate in?

Updated MonthlyAs of 2024-06-01High data quality

Historical Trend

Data sourced from official government APIs

What It Measures

The percentage of recorded roll-call votes in which each member participates. Published as an individual attendance/participation rate per member, and as a chamber-wide average per Congress.

Formula

Participation Rate (%) = Votes Cast ÷ Total Roll-Call Votes × 100

Why It Matters

Members are elected to represent their constituents, which includes casting votes on legislation. Very low participation rates may indicate a member is prioritizing other activities (campaign travel, media, committee work) over floor votes. Historical data can identify patterns.

Data Caveats

Members may miss votes due to illness, family emergencies, or legitimate scheduling conflicts that are not captured.
Presidential candidates running for reelection commonly show depressed voting rates during campaign travel.
Some absences are procedurally planned (pairs voting, speaker absences).

Drill-Down Options

By member
By chamber
By state/district
By year within a Congress
Correlation with re-election status

Suggested Dashboard Layout

Example Visualization

Distribution histogram of member participation rates. Bottom/top 20 list. Trend line of chamber average. Scatter plot of participation rate vs. member seniority.

Suggested Chart Types

Bar ChartData TableScatter Plot

Related KPIs

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hearings/year

vs. prior Congress year

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📜Legislative BranchConstituent Service

Constituent Responsiveness

How responsive are congressional offices to constituent communications?

Data pending

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