Rep. Lance Gooden
Lance GoodenSole Republican Party vote on the police reform bill in the House says he ‘accidentally pressed the wrong vote button’. (Texas), the only House Republican to vote for George Floyd’s Policing Justice Act, allegedly said in a now deleted post on Twitter that he accidentally hit the wrong button.
“I accidentally hit the wrong voting button and realized it was too late,” Gooden wrote in the tweet, according to The Washington Post. “I changed the official record to reflect my opposition to George Floyd’s party policing law.”
The measure would make bottlenecks illegal, seek to end the religious and racial profile and prevent certain preventive arrest warrants, among other changes in police policy.
“I have, without a doubt, the most conservative / America First voting record in Congress!” Gooden said in another tweet.
“It is clear that I would not support the Anti-Police Act of the radical left,” he added. “I changed the official record to reflect my opposition!”
I have, without a doubt, the most conservative / America First voting record in Congress!
Of course, I would not support the Anti-Police Act of the radical left.
I changed the official record to reflect my opposition! pic.twitter.com/s7uCdlxvgO
– Lance Gooden (@Lancegooden) March 4, 2021
The legislation passed the House on Wednesday with a 220-112 vote.
The Post notes that accidental votes are not uncommon in legislatures at the state and federal levels, although the consequences were more impactful.
North Carolina State Representative Becky Carney (D), for example, accidentally helped legalize hydraulic fracturing in her state after saying “yes” in a veto of the bill she had lobbied against, according to the newspaper. Since changing his vote would change the outcome, Carney was not allowed to reverse his vote according to house rules, he added.