Oopsie - hitting the wrong button
From the Raleigh, North Carolina
News Observer
How a lawmaker's mistaken vote put North Carolina on a path toward fracking
The look on her face said it all.
Charlotte Democrat Becky Carney stood on the House floor Monday night with her mouth agape. She looked horrified. Embarrassed. Sick to her stomach.
Moments earlier, she cast the deciding vote to override Gov. Bev Perdue�s veto on a bill to advance natural gas exploration. The problem? She opposed the bill. Voted against it days earlier. And now she made it law.
Yes, the state of North Carolina approved fracking, one of the most controversial pieces of legislation this year, by accident.
The 10-year veteran lawmaker hit the wrong button on her desk. Carney punched the thumbnail-sized green button that says �AYE� just above the red one that says �NO.�
�Oh, my God,� she said on the floor. �It won�t let me change my vote.�
She tried to get it changed but:
She then asked Tillis if she could change her vote. Tillis said House rules prevented it.
Lawmakers mistakenly vote all the time but they are not permitted to change a vote if it affects the outcome.
Heh... But say hello to all the revenues from the gas companies, not a bad thing when you look at it that way. And it will prove to people just how safe the technology is these days.
Posted by DaveH at July 4, 2012 7:48 PM