Matthew Butler, former Senator for South Carolina

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Butler was a senator from South Carolina and was a Democrat. He served from 1889 to 1895.

He was previously a senator from South Carolina as a Democrat from 1883 to 1889; and a senator from South Carolina as a Democrat from 1877 to 1883.

Photo of Sen. Matthew Butler [D-SC, 1889-1895]

Voting Record

Missed Votes

From Nov 1877 to Mar 1895, Butler missed 2,299 of 4,639 roll call votes, which is 49.6%. This is much worse than the median of 34.9% among the lifetime records of senators serving in Mar 1895. The chart below reports missed votes over time.

We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses, major life events, and running for higher office.

Show the numbers...

Time Period	Votes Eligible	Missed Votes	Percent	Percentile
1877 Oct-Dec	11	9	81.8%	94^th
Dec 1877-Feb 1878	69	27	39.1%	81^st
1878 Mar-May	110	34	30.9%	56^th
1878 Jun-Jun	83	13	15.7%	25^th
Dec 1878-Mar 1879	236	82	34.7%	88^th
1879 Mar-Jul	191	118	61.8%	75^th
Dec 1879-Feb 1880	49	13	26.5%	50^th
1880 Mar-May	127	40	31.5%	40^th
1880 Jun-Jun	39	16	41.0%	53^rd
Dec 1880-Mar 1881	164	39	23.8%	50^th
Dec 1881-Mar 1882	96	55	57.3%	89^th
1882 Apr-Jul	212	73	34.4%	57^th
1882 Aug-Aug	38	17	44.7%	78^th
Dec 1882-Mar 1883	401	292	72.8%	96^th
1881 Mar-Mar	178	106	59.6%	89^th
1881 Oct-Oct	61	52	85.2%	82^nd
Dec 1883-Feb 1884	65	15	23.1%	44^th
1884 Mar-May	114	53	46.5%	75^th
1884 Jun-Jul	78	31	39.7%	59^th
Dec 1884-Mar 1885	171	79	46.2%	72^nd
Dec 1885-Mar 1886	63	26	41.3%	75^th
1886 Apr-Jul	234	84	35.9%	57^th
1886 Aug-Aug	12	4	33.3%	48^th
Dec 1886-Mar 1887	143	65	45.5%	80^th
1885 Mar-Apr	9	6	66.7%	87^th
Dec 1887-Feb 1888	50	19	38.0%	51^st
1888 Mar-May	64	37	57.8%	71^st
1888 Jun-Aug	62	49	79.0%	88^th
1888 Sep-Oct	14	12	85.7%	73^rd
Dec 1888-Mar 1889	199	115	57.8%	86^th
Dec 1889-Feb 1890	31	19	61.3%	77^th
1890 Mar-May	114	75	65.8%	88^th
1890 Jun-Aug	150	78	52.0%	69^th
1890 Sep-Sep	79	28	35.4%	60^th
Dec 1890-Mar 1891	143	98	68.5%	88^th
1889 Mar-Apr	9	4	44.4%	52^nd
1892 Jan-Mar	26	17	65.4%	82^nd
1892 Apr-Jul	78	38	48.7%	64^th
Dec 1892-Mar 1893	105	43	41.0%	60^th
1893 Aug-Oct	77	32	41.6%	56^th
1894 Jan-Mar	35	12	34.3%	56^th
1894 Apr-Jul	321	220	68.5%	90^th
1894 Aug-Aug	21	17	81.0%	85^th
Dec 1894-Mar 1895	101	35	34.7%	43^rd
1893 Apr-Apr	6	2	33.3%	45^th

Primary Sources

The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including:

unitedstates/congress-legislators, a community project gathering congressional information
United States Congressional Roll Call Voting Records, 1789-1990 by Howard L. Rosenthal and Keith T. Poole.
Martis’s “The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress”, via Keith Poole’s roll call votes data set, for political party affiliation for Members of Congress from 1789 through about year 2000
Biographical Directory of the United States Congress for the photo

Sen. Matthew Butler

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Voting Record

Missed Votes

Primary Sources