U.S. Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) had time to vote for himself on Friday, however, he was missing in action when it came time for the senator to represent the people of Alabama on the floor of the United States Senate the same day.
Jones touted that he voted on Friday morning in the upcoming general election via in-person absentee ballot in Jefferson County.
It is unclear why Jones did not do this when the U.S. Senate was not in session. Absentee voting has been open in Alabama since September 9, and Jones’ campaign even has launched a website touting that “Every day is Election Day in Alabama.” In-person absentee voting in Alabama is open through October 29; the same date is the deadline to apply for an absentee ballot via mail.
While Jones voted for himself and the Democratic presidential ticket of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on Friday, the Senate conducted seven roll call votes. Jones was marked as “not voting” for each of these votes.
This comes after Jones also missed all votes in the Senate on Monday and Thursday. In total, Jones has now been absent from the Senate for 67% of the chamber’s votes this week.
For the votes he did take, Jones supported Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) position all but one time (86%).
The only other members of the upper chamber to miss as many votes as Jones this week have been U.S. Senators Kamala Harris (D-CA) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ). Harris, the Democratic nominee for vice president, has missed all of the Senate’s votes this week.
This comes after Jones last week admitted he did not watch any of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary’s four-day confirmation hearing for Judge Amy Coney Barrett, President Donald Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court of the United States.
Alabama’s junior senator said at the time, “I have not watched the hearing. I’m in the middle of a campaign. I have not watched the hearings, and I left D.C. when we were there.”
However, Jones last Thursday did have time during business hours to instead campaign for the Biden-Harris ticket virtually in Ohio. This week, Jones also fundraised for Biden’s campaign, and on Friday Jones is set to campaign with the cast of the TV show “Will & Grace.”
Jones is set to face Republican nominee Tommy Tuberville on November 3.
Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
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