Many people have observed the party unity in various government bodies, such as the State Senate and the State Assembly. Indeed, in the Assembly the average Democratic member votes with the Speaker 97% and the average Republican votes with the Speaker 93% of the time.

Why is this so? There are several reasons.

• It's Easier to Vote Yes.
• Most Legislation is Uncontroversial.
• Areas Outside of District/Interest Areas Irrelevant.

For sure it is easier to vote yes. When you vote with the leadership, you don't have to explain your vote to the body nor do you have to take an unpopular stand. You also don't have to risk upsetting the leadership which might punish you in the future for your disloyality.

It's also true that most bills are uncontroversial. While you might have a dislike for a specific piece of legislation, it might not reach the level of concern to a legislator which has diverse concerns from being re-elected to meeting the needs of his or her district first.

Finally, most legislation doesn't directly effect a district or evoke passion to legislators. There are a lot of bills out their far outside of the interest of a legislator that fail to provoke much in the way of emotion to both constituents or the legislator him or herself. Just because you care about a bill, doesn't mean your legislator does.

Conclusions

Legislators vote yes for all kinds of things that they probably would not vote for if they truly understood the legislation or the concerns that their constituents have with the bill. That's why it's important to contact your legislators and work with them to ensure they understand the issues.