In Congress assembled ...

October 22, 2012 5:28 PM

How can I find a specific politician's voting record online, going back 50 years or so?

For example, say I want to know how the late Sen. McGovern voted on certain bills. He was a US Representative from 57 to 61, and a US Senator from 63-81. Is that info available online?

posted by LonnieK to Law & Government (2 answers total)

I know for a fact that thomas.loc.gov from the Library of Congress has an online version of the congressional record. I'm not sure if there's an easy way to extract data about votes in some structured way, but you can search for the bills if you know their numbers or titles.
posted by scalespace at 8:33 PM on October 22, 2012

The Congressional Record contains every roll-call vote. Paper copies of the old, old, old Records can likely be found at a nearby college or university library. Find the day the bill you are looking for came up for final passage and the roll call will be there.
posted by Hollywood Upstairs Medical College at 8:04 AM on October 23, 2012