By Jennifer Scholtes, CQ Staff

Talk about a bad day to miss work.

Members of Congress who were not on Capitol Hill on June 18 took a big hit on their voting participation ratings. Partisan rancor contributed to a modern-day record of 53 roll call votes in one day, which means that missing members saw their voting participation rate for the 111th Congress plummet up to 13 percentage points.

Members of Congress tend to obsess over their records of attendance on recorded votes, and for good reason. Poor attendance can be a highly effective line of attack for political opponents.

Between graduations, funerals, rehabilitation and new babies, seven members didn’t participate in any House votes that day: Michele Bachmann , R-Minn.; Keith Ellison , D-Minn.; Jane Harman , D-Calif.; Patrick J. Kennedy , D-R.I.; John Lewis , D-Ga.; Linda T. Sanchez , D-Calif.; and Ellen O. Tauscher , D-Calif.

The seven members missed a day of chaotic floor action with nearly non-stop voting for eight hours as Republicans called for extra votes on amendments to the Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill (HR 2847). to protest the Democratic leadership’s decision to limit amendments to the measure.

None of the missing representatives could have foreseen that it would have d such an impact on their voting participation rating. An Ellison spokesman, Rick Jauert, said that Ellison was concerned about missing so many votes but could not have shown up regardless of the number.

“He did not anticipate the Republicans playing politics with the vote schedule,” Jauert said. “Nonetheless, he was proud to attend his son’s graduation from CityYear in Miami.”

Tauscher, whose voting record was 100 percent before June 18, saw the greatest drop in her attendance score — 13 percentage points. She missed work that day to attend the funeral of a close friend, according to an aide, but was back the next day. Tauscher is awaiting confirmation as under secretary of State for arms control and international security.

Kennedy’s absence drove down his voting participation rate to 71 percent from 82 percent. He has missed every vote since announcing earlier this month that he was checking himself into a treatment facility, following a long battle with alcoholism and addiction.

With her new baby, Sanchez has also missed a high percentage of votes. Her voting score was 71 percent before Thursday and 66 percent afterward.

Despite the high volume of votes, few were close enough to have a different outcome caused by the absent members. In fact, almost half of them were re-votes and votes to reconsider on amendments that had already been rejected or adopted.

The unusual day also provided an opportunity for some members to boost their scores. For example, Pete Stark , D-Calif. and Gary G. Miller , R-Calif., both increased their voting participation rates by more than 5 percentage points.

Rachel Bloom contributed to this story.