One thing that surprised me in the Missouri Independent article about her lawsuit is that “Miller, who is a nonpartisan officer elected by all 163 members of the House, said during a news conference that she did not intend to seek another term when a newly elected House is seated in January.”
Elected? I thought. I couldn’t remember voting for her, and really had to think about it.
After eight years in the House—four terms, as long as I am allowed to serve, I couldn’t remember voting for our staff. Then it hit me.
On the first day of our two-year session, there are a bunch of formalities. There’s excitement, especially from those who are new to the House. Family is there. We get sworn in. There are speeches. We elect the Speaker (who the Republican caucus has already elected). More speeches. Family wanders out, bored of the speeches. There are voting formalities to get through before we can leave. We’re tired and hungry and waiting for the ball later that evening. We’re thinking about whether there will be enough booze food. In 2021, we were wondering what all the people were doing wearing camo.
Back up. There are voting formalities.
Yup, that first day of the 2023 Legislative Session, in the journal, all of those legislative formalities are recorded. Including HR 2 (which vote is not recorded in the journal), on Page 16 of the 168 page journal for January 4, which says:
So there was no recorded vote. It was considered a formality and not something we would be spending time debating. It must have been a floor vote, which is more like an unscientific poll that can include imaginary voters when needed.
So I will concede to Rudi Keller that Dana was elected. But maybe not by 163 members.