If all votes were recorded

Voting records are essential for the study of legislative behavior, but recording of individual-level vote choices is often partial. While roll calls are taken by default on some votes, they need to be requested on others. This partial recording causes a selection problem. We rely on an external shock to the procedure of recording votes which required, for a time, roll calls on votes that would otherwise only be recorded upon request. Using a difference in differences design, we compare roll calls that were always recorded with roll calls that needed to be requested under the regular regime but were recorded during a temporary remote voting regime. Our results show that the requirement to request roll calls makes parliaments appear more competitive and legislators more loyal. Contrary to recent contributions, our findings demonstrate bias in two basic quantities of interest: vote splits and legislator loyalty scores. One reason for this is that when all votes were recorded, political group leaderships are likely to instruct their rank and file to vote a particular way on the votes that were recorded under the remote voting regime but would not have seen a request under the regular regime. Our findings are thus evidence for the use of roll call requests as a disciplining tool.