Heads-Up: 'GOP May Revive Plan To Influence Electoral College' - MSNBC

[markpkessinger]

11. Maine has all of 4 electoral votes, and Nebraska has 2 . . .

. . . so it isn't likely to make a difference in national elections if they do this. But for an illustration of just how pernicious this would be, take a look at a more populous state such as Pennsylvania, historically a swing state in national elections.

If the GOP plan had been in effect in 2008, rather than getting Pennsylvania's full complement of 21 electoral votes, 10 would have been awarded to McCain and 11 to Obama (9 for the 9 Congressional districts in which he won, and the extra two awarded because he won the overall vote). That would have meant that President Obama, despite having won 55% of the popular vote in a fairly large state, would have enjoyed a net benefit of ONE electoral vote over his opponent. Republicans describe the plan as "proportional representation," but it isn't really. Pennsylvania had (and still has, although the map has since been redrawn) many more predominantly red districts (rural areas) than blue ones (urban/suburban ones), but the majority of the population resided in the bluer districts. So the GOP's plan would given the McCain greater representation in the electoral college vote from PA than than he had earned at the ballot box, and would have given President Obama correspondingly less representation in that vote than he had earned at the ballot box.

The thing is, many swing states have a similar distribution of population, with the majority of the population concentrated in a smaller number of predominantly blue districts, but a greater number of predominantly red districts. So in these states, this plan will have the effect of giving greater voice to a minority of voters than they do, in fact, represent as a proportion of those states' electorates. I do note your qualifying phrase, "especially if they end up doing it in all 50 states," but here's the thing: there are absolutely NO plans to do this in predominantly red states, nor is there any intention to float such a plan in these states. Don't be fooled by this -- it is a profoundly devious plan.