Last week I noted how cynical Republican politicians in state government in Richmond had sought to manipulate the awarding of electoral votes in future elections by sneaking a revised plan through the state assembly.
As has been pointed out more recently, Virginia is not the only state attempting this. It's occurring in several of the swing states that voted Democratic in last year's election, but which are controlled by Republican politicians at the state level. In other words, basically the same kind of effort that motivated so many Republican-controlled states, before the last election, to seek to limit voting and registration in ways that would directly benefit them politically: "If you can't win the game, try changing the rules so you can."
It might seem more democratic to award electoral votes in this "new" way, by congressional district, rather than a statewide winner-takes-all. One or two states already follow this practice. It seems to me, however, it's a step away from real democracy, unless we can find a way to prevent these same cynical politicians from gerrymandering districts so as to perpetuate their own control. No one has found the means to accomplish that yet, however. Until we do, politicians will be jiggering the electoral maps every ten years (or even more often, as in Virginia's case) to maximize the districts their party will win.
In effect, the proposed changes mark a step backward, from voting based on actual voters, to voting based on constantly changing geographic lines, in which urban areas will be chopped up into different districts, and their vote diluted. If we are truly bent on making the Presidentail elections as democratic as possible, let's go for majority vote, pure and simple.
Meantime, the latest GOP effort to load the dice should be seen for what it is, a power play. It's anti-Democratic, and anti-democratic.
Maybe they should reince their priebus out with soap?
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