By Rachel Bloom, CQ Staff

In this election year, congressional leaders didn’t try to keep up the record-breaking pace of voting that they established in 2007. The lack of common ground between Democrats and the outgoing president, a campaign-driven drop in the number of legislative days and a derailed appropriations process made for far fewer roll call votes than a year ago.

Vote Charts: Click here to view chart

House lawmakers were called to the floor 690 times in 2008, twice for quorum calls and 688 times to cast “yea” or “nay” votes, down 40 percent from 2007. Even so, the number of House roll calls was historically high — the fifth highest since Congressional Quarterly began analyzing members’ voting practices. Senate voting dropped more precipitously, with the roll called only 215 times this past year. That’s half as many as in 2007 and the lowest since 1961.

At the same time, fewer lawmakers seemed concerned about perfect attendance. Only 11 lawmakers — nine senators and two House members — made it to the floor for every vote held this past year, down from 13 total in 2007 and 27 in 2006. Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa held on to the longest-running perfect attendance record; the last roll call he missed was in July 1993. Weekend votes in both the House and the Senate may have cut into the number with perfect attendance. And a Republican walkout in the House over a domestic surveillance bill also may have contributed to the falloff.

Participation in Floor Votes Falls Off: Click here to view chart

On average, House and Senate lawmakers alike showed up to vote slightly less often in 2008 than in most of the past 20 years. For both chambers, lawmakers on average participated in 94.3 percent of the votes for which they were eligible.

In part, the low scores resulted from a large number of missed votes by some presidential contenders and a few ailing members. In the Senate, presidential candidates had the lowest participation rates in each party. Republican John McCain of Arizona made only 20 percent of roll calls — missing almost six straight months of votes. Democrat Barack Obama of Illinois, with a participation score of 36 percent, and his rival Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, with 51 percent, made few more. The next two lowest participation scores in the Senate both faced health issues and missed more than 25 percent of their votes. Edward M. Kennedy underwent extensive treatment for a brain tumor diagnosed in May, and Robert C. Byrd , the oldest member of Congress, was hospitalized several times. More than half the senators voted at least 97 percent of the time.

Voting Paricipation History: Click here to view chart

In the House, half the members voted at least 96 percent of the time. Illness curtailed the participation of Democrat Bobby L. Rush of Illinois, who fought off cancer of the salivary gland this year and cast less than a quarter of his eligible votes.

CQ gives lawmakers credit for voting only when they cast a “yea” or a “nay” during a roll call. On rare occasions, members will vote “present” either to avoid a perceived conflict of interest or to stage a protest. Often, those votes aren’t explained; regardless, CQ doesn’t count members who vote present as having participated in the vote.