CHEYENNE — The Wyoming Legislature has made significant progress since the age of typewriters, cranky copiers and bills written by private corporate lawyers or government agencies.

The biggest and best step has been the creation of the Legislative Service Office (LSO) and its staff and the introduction of computers.

The creation of the LSO enabled our citizen legislators to sponsor their own bills with the help of legal researchers and attorneys. This is democracy in action.

In the 1980s, there was a movement to install an electronic voting system in the Legislative Assembly.

Since the number of members was around 60, roll call votes were considered too time consuming.

House Leaders resisted and pointed out that then-Chief Clerk of the House Herb Pownall was so good and fast at counting votes that there was no need for an electronic system.

The Senate, which has only about 30 members, was not intended to need an electronic voting system, given shorter and faster roll call votes.

Today, decades later, the Legislature has a combination system of electronic voting that is consistent with other smaller legislatures, according to LSO staff and online sources.

This type of voting system combines the responsibility of taking traditional verbal votes with electronic voting software technology that facilitates tabulation and reporting of votes.

The Legislature’s Select Committee on Legislative Facilities, Technology and Process recently voted in favor of a system that would display roll call votes in real time, perhaps through a new website link. The vote was a compromise from an initial proposal to create a display board in the legislative chambers.

The amendment came from two committee members: Republican Reps. Dalton Banks, R-Cowley, and Dan Lausen, R-Powell.

They mentioned the need for greater transparency in legislative actions to raise public awareness and inform.

The idea is that real-time voting on a website brings the viewer closer to the real action as it happens.

But in my view, votes on bills can now be obtained easily and quickly from the LSO’s web page, and the real-time system does little more for the viewer than clicking through the votes for a few minutes.

But then I have a different perspective. I was researching the Legislature before the computer age, when just getting a copy of the ballot paper was difficult.

That’s why, in my opinion, the LSO website provides almost all the information I need quickly, although not in real time.

For all this seeking greater transparency, nothing was said about recording votes on bills in the committee meeting, which is the meeting of the House or Senate to discuss bills reported from committees.

The process appears enshrined as a remnant of the British system, which was used to loosen the boundaries of debate and allow for a more open exchange of views “without the urgency of a final vote,” according to online sources.

In Wyoming, it’s a common occurrence: Members move in and out of chambers as bill sponsors make their arguments.

Votes are verbal yes or no calls; The responsible legislator decides which side is louder.

A member who disagrees may request a roll call vote.

But other bills may die for unclear reasons and a lack of recorded votes showing who voted for and against.

Many bills die in committee of the whole and probably should die as part of the collation system.

But this British relic may also need transparency.

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Contact Joan Barron at 307-632-2534 or jmbarron@bresnan,net

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Guilty: A few weeks ago, I failed to attribute access to a video of a Weston County commissioners meeting to the Newcastle Journal.