Democratic House members used their COVID-era right to vote by proxy while sitting back home far more than Republicans in a process GOP leader Kevin McCarthy said cheats constituents.

In a new Ripon Society study, Democrats cast 72% of all absentee votes last year, while Republicans cast only 28%. Of the 17,263 proxy votes cast by fellow lawmakers for the absentee colleagues, 12,500 were by Democrats and 4,763 from Republicans.