Pennsylvania House Republicans Introduce Bill To Rig The 2016 Presidential Election

Earlier this week, Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus endorsed a Republican plan to rig the next presidential election to make it nearly impossible for the Democratic candidate to win the White House, no matter who the American people vote for. The election-rigging plan, which would allocate electoral votes by congressional district rather than by states as a whole in a handful of states that consistently vote for Democratic presidential candidates, would have allowed Mitt Romney to narrowly win the Electoral College last November despite losing the popular vote by nearly four points. On Monday, seven Pennsylvania Republican state representatives introduced a bill to make this vote-rigging scheme a reality in their state. Under their bill, the winner of Pennsylvania as a whole will receive only 2 of the state’s 20 electoral votes, while “[e]ach of the remaining presidential electors shall be elected in the presidential elector’s congressional district.” Pennsylvania is a blue state that voted for the Democratic presidential candidate in every single presidential race for the last two decades, so implementing the GOP election-rigging plan in Pennsylvania would make it much harder for a Democrat to be elected to the White House. Moreover, because of gerrymandering, it is overwhelmingly likely that the Republican candidate will win a majority of Pennsylvania’s electoral votes even if the Democrat wins the state by a very comfortable margin. Despite the fact that President Obama won Pennsylvania by more than 5 points last November, Democrats carried only 5 of the state’s 18 congressional seats. Accordingly, Obama would have likely won only 7 of the state’s 20 electoral votes if the GOP vote rigging plan had been in effect last year. One mitigating factor is that only 7 of the Pennsylvania House’s 109 Republicans are original sponsors of the election-rigging bill, so it is unclear that this is a major priority for the GOP state house caucus. Nevertheless, both Gov. Tom Corbett (R-PA) and state Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R-PA) support the plan, so there is a real risk that Pennsylvania Republicans will try to write the voters out of the next presidential election.

http%3A//thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/01/16/1451351/pennsylvania-house-republicans-introduce-bill-to-rig-the-2016-presidential-election/



• Is there a petition yet?

• What frosts me is that the republican'ts waste so much time, tax dollars, and resources on this shit. If they would just work for the greater good, they wouldn't need to devise ways to cheat.

• That means we need to start a drive to go by the popular vote and eliminate the Electoral College. Someone came up with a scheme that the larger blue states could force this.

• IF this passes and Obama signs it then we start collecting guns.

• Democrats can win without Pennsylvania.

• Well said R2. They only care about their wealthy interests.

• If you were ever against the winner take all election process for electors, you can't change your mind now just because in some states it would adversely affect your favorite.

• R4, it's a bill in the Pennsylvania statehouse. Those go to the governor to sign, not the president. This particular bill only affects PA. Why would Obama sign such a bill anyway?

• No one wants to vote for them anymore, their policies are repulsive so they have to cheat. Arrogant disgusting assholes. They need to be stopped.

• Maine and Nebraska have done this for years. There are efforts in California to do it also. It actually makes the electoral college closer to the actual vote. Don't we all want the direct election of the president?

• [quote]Earlier this week, Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus endorsed a Republican plan to rig the next presidential election to make it nearly impossible for the Democratic candidate to win the White House, no matter who the American people vote for. Of course he endorsed it. The Repukes now realize -- much to their horror -- that they may get locked out of the White House for years to come. Their noxious brand of politics is becoming less and less popular. So, the only way they keep the House of Representatives is through gerrymandering and the only way the get back in the White House is through rigging the existing system. Over the last 20 years, Democrats have been the popular vote winners in every Presidential election save one, 2004. The Dems start with a formidable advantage in the Electoral College and only have to be competitive in a modest number of "battleground" states -- all of which Obama won this time, except for North Carolina. So, yeah. They will lie, cheat, and steal their way back into power. It is our job to make sure that they are not successful.

• R10 - but would this represent the actual vote? It represents the district vote, not the total state vote count. Basically the rural less populous districts would have more power than the urban ones.

• Exactly what R12 said. In fact, it distorts the vote even more than the electoral college. How do we fight back against these people? Does the minority (us Democrats) have the power to filibuster in the Pennsylvania State Senate?

• And more importantly, this is only being done in states that went democratic. States that went Republican are sticking with the winner take all method. So you get proportional voting in democratic states and block voting in republican states. This could be the end of anything close to a fair election.

• Please let this pass!!

• As usual, Republicans are the ultimate hypocrites. They demonize Obama for wanting to turn America into a socialist/communist country, yet they're the ones who want to take away our most basic right--the right to vote. The only votes that count to them are white, Republican, Christian, heterosexual votes. The rest of us can just suck it.

• Ah, NOW it becomes clear why PA's Northampton County's representation was gerrymandered. Oh, no, r16; the Republicans are ONLY trying to correct the wrong of the illegitimacy of Obama voters!

• R15's breasts are waxy and sad.

• This is the could be the end of our republic. Republicans are trying to jig the national election so that rural district run the country like they run the House. This should be front page news!!! [quote]Priebus is urging Republican governors and legislators to take up what was once a fringe scheme to change the rule for distribution of Electoral College votes. Under the Priebus plan, electoral votes from battleground states such as Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Wisconsin and other states that now regularly back Democrats for president would be allocated not to the statewide winner but to the winners of individual congressional districts.

  http://www.thenation.com/blog/172191/rncs-priebus-proposes-rig-electoral-college-so-losing-republicans-can-win%23

• bump

• I've got to the point where I just don't care about stuff like this anymore.

• bump #2

• You should care R21. This is how they win. By fixing the rules of the game.

• AND WE WILL DO NOTHING ABOUT IT! NOW BACK TO YOUR CELL PHONES, BOTS!

• This is already done in some other states. Like Maine and I think NH and one in the midwest. It actually gets closer to a popular vote result.

• [quote]It actually gets closer to a popular vote result. But isn't that true only if every state uses the same method? My understanding is that the Repugs aren't interested in that. They only want to mine for Electoral College votes in places that are deep blue. They have no interest in giving away any votes in Texas, for example. And, does it really do that? The way the Repukes gerrymandered districts has allowed them to maintain their majority in the House despite losing the overall vote when you look at just raw vote totals of ballots cast for Democratic and Repub House members.

• [quote]It actually gets closer to a popular vote result. That is false. You are way off, r10.

• Repugs have been changing the law to win elections for a long time. And they often succeed.

  Pantsy

• It actually gets us further from the actual vote count, because the districts are so incredibly gerrymandered. Remember, the districts have been drawn to maximize Republican gains. If this happens, it will drop us out of the electoral democracy category, and into the oligarchy category with Algeria, Iran, and the other ne'er-do-wells.

• I cannot believe more than 60 million people voted for a compulsive liar, rich bitch Mormon. Reason enough to believe our elections are fictitious.