Wednesday, February 13, 2013

States Can Change How Electoral Votes are Counted

      
Would you like to end voter fraud forever? Would you like to end the era of major cities dominating elections? I know how to do it. But I need your help.

Here's the problem conservatives face: Republicans are at a structural disadvantage within the Electoral College.  Democrats start out with California and New York in their column, and 220 electoral votes in the bag every single election.

The path to reaching 270 electoral votes is very simple for Democrats.  By contrast, after two billion dollars spent on the GOP side, we still only won 206. That's the road to being a permanent minority party.
                   
Republicans can fix this by switching to "Winner take all by Congressional district." For example, in Virginia alone, Romney would have split Virginia's congressional districts with Obama. 7-4.

This would in no way dismantle the Electoral College. This is not a call for direct democracy. It's totally Constitutional. This is Federalism at its best. It ends voter fraud, preserves the
Electoral College, and empowers the states.  In fact, Maine and Nebraska already do this.

You see, State Legislatures have been given the power by Article Two, Section One of the Constitution to award their electors in the manner in which they see fit. James Madison said states should award their Electors in a way that derive the most benefit for their states.

For America's first 150 years, states awarded electors in various ways; winner take all for the whole state, winner take all by Congressional District, Proportionally, sometimes, even the Legislatures themselves would just decide who would get their Electoral votes.

It wasn't until the early 20th century that Progressives popularized the "Winner Take All" rule that we have in most states today. In other words, if you win the popular vote in a state, you get all the Electors in that state. Conservatives have been paying the price ever since.

Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin alone would have shifted around 65-70 electoral votes into Romney's column depending on how you look at the map.  And that doesn't even account for Florida.

Let me put it another way: If those states had operated this way, Mitt Romney would have won the Election.

These states have GOP Governors and legislators. They could do it today if they wanted. We can get it done right now, with your help.

What the current system has given us is ten "Battleground States" deciding the election every year.

This has lead to a Federal Government empowered to trample on the rights of citizens in non-battleground states without political consequence, while they buy off the voters in the Battleground States.

Here are some examples of what I'm talking about:

-The pro-free-trade George W. Bush was trying to win West Virginia in 2000 when it was a Battleground. And yet he came out for steel tariffs that helped WV. This ran contra to everything else he said on trade, but he did it anyway. Why? Because he wanted to win that Battleground state.

-Fast forward to this last term. West Virginia was no longer a battleground, and Barack Obama's EPA closed the largest coal plant in the state. Why did he do that? Because he was never going to win WV anyway. It did not matter to him what people in West Virginia thought.

-The Gulf oil spill happened. Obama didn't go visit Louisiana for the first 32 days. On Day 36, oil started lapping up on the shores of Florida, and suddenly, Obama was down there visiting Florida. Why? Because Florida mattered electorally to Obama and Louisiana didn't.
Imagine how much differently our politicians would behave if the voters in all 50 states could hold them accountable.

Now, back to voter fraud...

There is so much pressure to win the statewide popular vote. There is huge incentive to steal votes in major cities.  "Winner take all by Congressional district" would effectively end that.

"You want to win Philly by a million votes? Great, knock yourself out. But you're still only getting two Congressional Districts out of it." 

There would be zero incentive from a Presidential election standpoint to steal votes any longer!

It would no longer matter how many votes the Democrats racked up in major cities.

Romney won the election everywhere but in the major cities. The fact is, the divide between urban and rural America has never been larger than it is right now. People in rural America have different priorities, hopes, and criteria for what they are looking for in a candidate. But urban America is picking the president for them. In Oregon, you can win every party of the
state but lose Portland and you still lose the election.

Here's why this is so urgent today...

Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin all have Republican Governors and control of the Legislature right now.  That will likely never happen again in our lifetime. The Virginia Legislature is considering this measure.

We are going to flood the Virginia Legislature with calls and letters in support of this bill, and let these Legislators know that this bill has our support.

We have a historic opportunity right now to put another 65-70 electoral votes into the GOP column and hold our leaders accountable.

This is great politics, it's great policy, and we don't need a single Democrat vote to get it done.  We are also going to barn storm through these states and put together full scale lobbying efforts. Please join me today.                   

Source: Conservative Intel, Ken Blackwell, Chairman,

Comments:    Send this article to your state senator and state representative.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader

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