Bill to change Electoral College system in PA introduced
A top legislative Republican has resurrected his plan to change the way Pennsylvania's Electoral College votes are allotted.
Bill to change Electoral College system in PA introduced
A top legislative Republican has resurrected his plan to change the way Pennsylvania's Electoral College votes are allotted.
Senate Majority leader Dominic Pileggi (R., Delaware) has introduced a bill that would scrap the state's winner-take-all method and replace it with a system based on the percentage of votes a candidate draws statewide.
The bill, which has 12 cosponsors, all of them Republicans, differs slightly from Pileggi's legislation from last year that would have divided votes according to the winners in the 18 congressional districts.
The new proposal apportion 18 of the 20 votes based on the percentage of votes the candidates draw in the statewide popular vote. The other two votes would go to the overall winner.
Under Pileggi's formula, Obama, who carried Pennsylvania on Nov. 6 with 52 percent to Romney's 47, would have received 12 electoral votes to Romney's eight.
The plan has been widely criticized by Democrats - including state party leader Jim Burn here on the Chris Matthews' show, Hardball - as a form of vote rigging to favor Republican candidates because it would weaken the influence of urban, read Democratic, votes.
Last year's proposal also met opposition from GOP members of the Pennsylvania congressional delegation. Neither Corbett nor the delegation has weighed in this time.
Pileggi spokesman Erik Arneson said the proportional approach would be a first among states. Among the 50 states only two, Maine and Nebraska, use the congressional district model. But GOP leaders in Michigan announced over the weekend it is considering a similar proposal.
Arneson said the bill is not on the fast track. "We think it’s worthy of discussion and debate, but this is not a priority."
More on the proposal from our colleague Tom Fitzgerald here.
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Absolutely correct, vote rigging by another name. I live in a verrry red district and I don't want MY vote not to count just because some republ;ican pol says so!— north country nimrod- I'm sure our budget conscious governor will not want to spend the taxpayers money to defend this in court. Can I get an amen on that?
Really, can the pubbies be anymore anti-democracy without being out and out nazis?— carl and sons 
>Arneson said the bill is not on the fast track. "We think it’s worthy of discussion and debate, but this is not a priority."<
WATCH THE REPUBLICANS: In Virginia they voted on such a bill on Inaugaration Day when a key Democrat was with the President.
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Are they proposing such legislation in Red States?
Will they?— Cuddles- The killing of Democracy in Pennsylvania. If we can't win elections on their merits, we'll steal them by disenfranchising as many voters as possible.
If you can't earn it, steal it.....— Dexter - Election fraud of all kinds - merely SOP for the GOP.
The party of the 1% is doing everything it an to hold onto power for as long as it can - so the rich can steal every penny they can before the GOP and its supporters become extinct.
The fact that they are only running this scam in states that have been "blue" in presidential elections clearly shows the moral bankruptcy of their position.— JeffJenk - I would support this if most other states did the same thing since it would be an end-around the current electoral college that most people don't like, depending on when their candidate lost. Had things been that way in 2000, Al Gore would have been elected and we (probably) never would have gotten involved in Iraq. I believe that there are other states who have laws which would provide for an apportionment of their electors based on popular vote in the state as long as a certain percentage of other states do the same thing.— Moe_Syzlak
- Well, Pileggi just lost my vote. I live in Wallingford but this garbage is over the top.— lelliottaeten
- This bill will make sure Pennsylvania looses all influence in the electoral college system guaranteeing that candidates skip pa and focus on campaigning in other states. Pileggi should be removed from office as he could care less about PA and the voters he is representing.— Rambert80
- Note also that the awarding of the last 2 votes is designed to lock out any 3rd parties from obtaining even one electoral vote. After all, if 3rd parties started winning even small numbers of electoral votes, Americans might realize they have choices outside the duopoly!— Straadin
- Just scrap the electoral college system altogether. One person, one vote and that's ALL citizens of the US not just those who live in the states.— meteo30
- Senate Majority leader Dominic Pileggi (R., Delaware) C'mon man you lost get a life and move on dude.
— bang411
