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No vote for cafta not counted { July 29 2005 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050729/NEWS01/50728044/1001http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050729/NEWS01/50728044/1001
Taylor’s ‘no’ vote on free trade pact goes uncounted
By Julie Ball
Staff Writer
published: July 29, 2005 6:00 am
ASHEVILLE — Rep. Charles Taylor says an electronic glitch kept his vote against the controversial Central American Free Trade Agreement from registering, but his explanation hasn’t stopped criticism from some Democrats.
The controversial trade bill narrowly passed the U.S. House early Thursday by a vote of 217-215. With Taylor’s vote, the measure still would have passed, but only by one vote. Another Republican House member said she planned to vote against the measure, but didn’t make it back from her district in time.
North Carolina’s congressional delegation overwhelmingly voted against CAFTA. The only exceptions were Reps. Sue Myrick and Robin Hayes, both Republicans. Hayes had opposed CAFTA, but changed his mind.
Taylor, a Brevard Republican, has opposed the legislation.
In a statement Thursday, Taylor said, “Due to an error, my ‘no’ vote did not record on the voting machine. The clerk’s computer logs verified that I had attempted to vote, but it did not show my ‘nay.’”
Still, the North Carolina Democratic Party and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee criticized him.
“I would maintain with 63 minutes to vote and so much attention paid to who had voted, there’s no way it went unnoticed who hadn’t voted,” said Schorr Johnson, with the North Carolina Democratic Party. “If it was a very, very important vote to him, which it should have been, then you look up at the board and make sure your vote registered correctly.”
Taylor spokeswoman Deborah Potter said Thursday that Taylor cast his vote near the end of the voting period.
Potter said House members have electronic cards that allow them to vote from another location when they can’t make it to the House floor.
“At the terminal where he put his card in and voted, he voted no,” Potter said.
The machine apparently recorded Taylor’s vote as an invalid card, according to Brian Walsh, press secretary for Congressman Bob Ney. Ney’s office oversees the House Clerk’s Office.
Members of Congress receive a new voting card every Congress, and it’s not clear what the problem was with Taylor’s card.
In addition to Taylor, Rep. Jo Ann Davis, a Virginia Republican, also planned to vote against the measure. But Davis was traveling in her district and failed to get back in time.
“The intention was to be there. Again, she wasn’t able to get back in time because of the weather,” said Davis’ chief of staff Chris Connelly.
The agreement, for which President Bush campaigned aggressively, sets up free trade with six Latin American countries — Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic.
Taylor’s would-be opponent in next year’s congressional election also had criticism in the wake of the CAFTA vote.
Swain County Democrat Heath Shuler said Taylor “gave us his word that he would vote against CAFTA, and I don’t understand why he did not.”
Among those who opposed CAFTA was Rep. Howard Coble, R-N.C., who said he told Bush that his late mother was a textile worker and that when textile workers urged him to vote against CAFTA, “I said to the president, ‘it’s my mamma talking to me.’”
Other Republicans voting no were: Reps. Virginia Foxx, Walter Jones and Patrick McHenry. All of the state’s Democratic congressmen voted no: Reps. G.K. Butterfield, Bob Etheridge, Mike McIntyre, Brad Miller, David Price and Mel Watt.
The bill, which the Senate approved last month, now goes to the president for his signature.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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