Where would you expect frights this October? Your first guess probably wouldn’t be the Sacramento state legislature, but CBS Los Angeles has just published an expose on the practice of “ghost voting” going on amongst our state representatives. Ghost voting occurs when legislators are absent from their desk however their votes are cast because their colleagues press the vote button in their absence.

In 2008, legislative leaders promised to end the practice of ghost voting. That promise appears to be broken based on video evidence aired on Monday night. Common Cause will urge the Assembly to adopt new, stricter rules and practices to prevent ghost voting and restore trust back into the institution. “We are calling on the Assembly to end this practice, no exceptions. Let legislators vote on behalf of their own constituents,” said Kathay Feng, executive director for California Common Cause. “Legislators were sent to Sacramento to vote for their district, not to let some other legislator vote on their behalf.” See Common Cause’s full press release here.

This practice should have ended years ago, but unfortunately the Legislature just doesn’t seem to be listening to public’s concern about this shameful exercise. It’s time to end this practice once and for all. Strict punishments for those who continue ghost voting need to be adopted.

Find out more about this scary practice from CBS here.