Headline Article

Electoral Vote Scam Advances in Pennsylvania

February 26,2013

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(Image via ThinkProgress.com)

The Daily Banter Headline Grab (from the TPM):

Pennsylvania Senate president Dominic Pileggi (R) has formally introduced a bill to award the state’s electoral votes proportionally, a move that would effectively end its position as a swing state while likely aiding the next Republican presidential candidate.

Republican lawmakers, egged on by the national Republican National Committee, have considered similar measures this year in blue states with GOP-controlled statehouses but in most cases the bills have been ruled out by top Republican officials. In Virginia, a bill to apportion electoral votes by congressional district was voted down decisively in a state Senate committee with a number of Republicans opposing it.

Pennsylvania, however, is still pressing on in a major way. Pileggi’s bill, introduced Thursday, has 13 co-sponsors, half of the 26 votes required to pass a bill through the state senate. Both Gov. Tom Corbett (R) and state Majority Leader Mike Turzai (R) expressed support for a modified version of the bill in 2011, but it never came to a vote amid widespread opposition from the state’s Republican members of Congress. Pileggi has argued the bill would encourage candidates to pay greater attention to rural, less populated parts of the state.

Tags: electoral votes, Pennsylvania, Republican Party

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Obvious partisan machinations like these should add support for the National Popular Vote movement. If the party in control in each state is tempted every 2, 4, or 10 years (post-census) to consider rewriting election laws and redistrict with an eye to the likely politically beneficial effects for their party in the next presidential election, then the National Popular Vote system, in which all voters across the country are guaranteed to be politically relevant and treated equally, is needed now more than ever.

A survey of Pennsylvania voters showed 78% overall support for a national popular vote for President.
Support was 87% among Democrats, 68% among Republicans, and 76% among independents.
By age, support was 77% among 18-29 year olds, 73% among 30-45 year olds, 81% among 46-65 year olds, and 78% for those older than 65.
By gender, support was 85% among women and 71% among men.

The National Popular Vote bill would guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states (and DC).

Every vote, everywhere, would be politically relevant and equal in presidential elections. No more distorting and divisive red and blue state maps.

When the bill is enacted by states with a majority of the electoral votes– enough electoral votes to elect a President (270 of 538), all the electoral votes from the enacting states would be awarded to the presidential candidate who receives the most popular votes in the country.

In Gallup polls since 1944, only about 20% of the public has supported the current system of awarding all of a state’s electoral votes to the presidential candidate who receives the most votes in each separate state (with about 70% opposed and about 10% undecided). Support for a national popular vote is strong among Republicans, Democrats, and Independent voters, as well as every demographic group in virtually every state surveyed in recent polls in recent closely divided Battleground states: CO – 68%, FL – 78%, IA 75%, MI – 73%, MO – 70%, NH – 69%, NV – 72%, NM– 76%, NC – 74%, OH – 70%, PA – 78%, VA – 74%, and WI – 71%; in Small states (3 to 5 electoral votes): AK – 70%, DC – 76%, DE – 75%, ID – 77%, ME – 77%, MT – 72%, NE 74%, NH – 69%, NV – 72%, NM – 76%, OK – 81%, RI – 74%, SD – 71%, UT – 70%, VT – 75%, WV – 81%, and WY – 69%; in Southern and Border states: AR – 80%, KY- 80%, MS – 77%, MO – 70%, NC – 74%, OK – 81%, SC – 71%, TN – 83%, VA – 74%, and WV – 81%; and in other states polled: AZ – 67%, CA – 70%, CT – 74%, MA – 73%, MN – 75%, NY – 79%, OR – 76%, and WA – 77%. Americans believe that the candidate who receives the most votes should win.

The bill has passed 31 state legislative chambers in 21 states with 243 electoral votes. The bill has been enacted by 9 jurisdictions with 132 electoral votes – 49% of the 270 necessary to go into effect.

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This is invalidating the democratic process.

Headline Article

Electoral Vote Scam Advances in Pennsylvania

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