Washtenaw County Reps Who’ve Missed the Most Votes in Lansing

by P.D. Lesko

Michigan’s legislators are among the highest paid in the nation. Currently, legislators in our state receive a base pay of $79,650, plus another $12,000 annually for expenses. Leadership positions receive added compensation of between $5,500 and $27,000. At the very least, voters should be able to rely on their elected officials to show up for work. MichiganVotes.org is a non-partisan group that amasses data concerning the work of Michigan legislators in Lansing. The data collected includes how legislators voted, and whether legislators showed up to do their jobs (voted). For the most part, Washtenaw County’s state-level representatives showed up for roll call votes, though some did so more reliably than others.

Between January 2020 and July 2022, the Michigan House held 1,666 roll call votes and the Senate held 1,523 roll call votes.

Washtenaw County’s representatives to the Michigan Legislature include:

• Rep. Felicia Brabec (District 33)
• Rep. Donna Lasinski (District 52)
• Rep. Yousef Rabhi (term-limited/running for Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners)
• Rep. Ronnie Peterson (term-limited/running for Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners)
• Senator Jeff Irwin (District 15)

According to data collected by MichiganVotes.org, Brabec and Peterson missed the most roll call votes and Rabhi missed the fewest.

Missed Roll Call Votes:

Rep. Felicia Brabec 53 missed votes (out of 1,017).

Rep. Ronnie Peterson 48 missed votes.

Senator Jeff Irwin 17 missed votes.

Rep. Donna Lasinski 9 missed votes.

Rep. Yousef Rabhi 1 missed vote.

To put Sen. Irwin’s good attendance at roll call votes into perspective, according to MichiganVotes.org data the top ten scofflaws missing in action in the Michigan Senate include eight Dems and two Republicans. Taylor’s State Senator Erika Geiss and Detroit’s State Senator Adam Hollier top the list. Both missed 132 votes out of 1,523, almost 1 out of every 10 opportunities to vote. Royal Oak’s Sen. Mallory McMorrow missed 125 votes out of 1,523.

Like in the State Senate, the top ten list of legislators in the Michigan House missing in action during roll call votes is dominated by Democratic representatives (7 our of 10). To put Rep. Rabhi’s excellent attendance at roll call votes into perspective, between Jan. 2020 and July 2022, Mount Clemens Republican Rep. Steve Marino was absent for the most roll call votes in the State House, a whopping 577 out of 1,666 votes, or 35 percent of the total roll call votes. Dearborn’s Dem. Rep. Abdullah Hammoud missed 434 roll call votes out of the 1,666 votes called. Detroit Democratic Rep. Karen Whitsett was missing in action for 406 roll call votes in the State House.

In the State House, 32 legislators were present for all 1,666 roll call votes, 30 Republicans and 2 Democrats. In the State Senate, 7 legislators were present for all 1,523 votes, 6 Republicans and 1 Democrat. Ann Arbor Rep. Yousef Rabhi is the local Michigan rep. who came the closest to having a perfect voting record.