Senate panel debates bill to allocate Va. electoral votes by congressional district
RICHMOND — A bill that would allocate Virginia’s presidential electoral votes by congressional district rather than statewide popular vote is stirring a partisan debate in the politically divided Virginia Senate.
If state Sen. Bill Carrico’s legislation had been in effect for the 2012 election, Republican Mitt Romney would have won nine of Virginia’s 13 electoral votes, and President Barack Obama would have won four. The bill cleared a subcommittee this morning and will be considered by the full Senate Privileges and Elections Committee next week.
Under Senate Bill 723, the candidate with the most votes in a congressional district would receive one electoral vote. The candidate who wins a majority of the congressional districts also would receive the state’s two at-large electoral votes. If no candidate wins a majority of the congressional districts, the two at-large electoral votes would go to the winner of the statewide popular vote.
“I’ve had several conversations with constituents, regardless of party affiliations, that feel like the disadvantages to rural areas are that their voices are not heard in elections,” Carrico, R-Grayson County said this morning in a meeting of a Senate Privileges and Election subcommittee.
Only Maine and Nebraska allocate presidential electoral votes by congressional district. In those states, the winner in each congressional district receives one electoral vote, and the winner of the statewide popular vote wins the state’s at-large votes.
The Senate subcommittee was split over Carrico’s bill, with three Republicans supporting it and three Democrats opposing it. The subcommittee chairwoman, Sen. Jill Vogel, R-Fauquier County, abstained from the vote.
Subcommittee member Sen. John Edwards, D-Roanoke, was one of Democrats who opposed Carrico’s bill, arguing that it would “destroy the concept of one person, one vote statewide.”
Carrico is not the first Virginia legislator to make such a proposal. Last year, Del. Vivian Watts, D-Fairfax County, sponsored a bill that would allocate electoral votes as Maine and Nebraska do. That bill didn’t make it past a House of Delegates subcommittee.
In the November election, Romney won the 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 9th and 10th congressional districts. Under Carrico’s bill, Romney would have won those seven electoral votes and the state’s two at-large votes. Obama carried the 2nd, 3rd, 8th and 11th districts.
January 23, 2013 - 12:28 PM
Another trick by the republicans to steal the next election. What will they do next, say democrats can only vote one day and on that day the polls will only be open ten minutes.
These people are scum, and what they are trying to do to our democracy is little short of treason.
Yea you two are right the inner city and metro area’s should be able to dictate for lifetime how folks in the counties and less populated areas must live because both of you know you both have the same convictions, morals, and beliefs in life. Two different worlds but only one is taxed with representation….Hey that would mean the constitution is not being followed? Nate you are truly an idiot. Respectfully of course.
David Clinton