ALPENA — The state House and state Senate each had more than 1,000 roll-call votes last year, and representatives for Northeast Michigan recorded a vote most of them.

The Mackinac Center for Public Policy says state Rep. Sue Allor, R-Wolverine, missed 28 of 1,027 roll-call votes.

State Sen. Jim Stamas, R-Midland, missed nine of 1,002.

The report stressed that missed votes by legislators may be due to illness, family emergencies, or other legitimate reasons. Members of the House and Senate majority and minority leadership teams are sometimes required to be off the floor during votes.

Allor told The News she missed votes early in the pandemic on March 17. She had done all of her preparations on the issues and was ready to cast votes. Then leaders in Lansing urged those who could be at high risk of infection to stay away from the state Capitol. She said she’s only missed two days in two full terms in Lansing.

“The shutdown happened, and then, all of a sudden, they called session,” Allor said. “They said anyone who was 65 years old or older or had other vulnerabilities should stay home. There were so many unknowns at that time, so I just stayed home. The only other day I ever missed was when my husband had a health emergency and I grabbed by things and left.”

Stamas said most of his missed votes were from a day in February when he was ill. He said he has always made it a goal to have a perfect voting record, but, in this instance, he was just unable to attend the session.

“I always set a high standard of achieving 100% attendance, but, on this one occasion in February, I was pretty ill,” he said. “Being present and casting my vote is one of the key things we are elected and sent to Lansing to do. I take that responsibility with great seriousness.”

State Rep. Triston Cole, R-Mancelona, who represented Montmorency County in the 105th state House District before being term-limited out beginning this month, didn’t miss a vote in 2020.

Cole said he’s proud that, in his six years in the Legislature, he never missed an official vote or official committee meeting.

“I think that shows commitment and dedication to the position,” Cole said. “I was also fortunate that I didn’t have any health or family emergencies that took away from me doing my duty. I will say I took my commitment to vote very seriously.”

Republican Ken Borton, of Gaylord, won the 105th District seat over Democrat Jonathan Burke in November.

In the House, state Rep. Steve Marino, a Republican from Harrison, had the most missed votes, with 303, while Democrat Adam Hollier, from Detroit, missed 102 votes to lead the state Senate.