Reince Priebus: GOP's Electoral Vote Split Scheme Would Give More "Local Control"

[DonViejo]

By David Weigel | Posted Monday, Jan. 14, 2013, at 10:19 AM ET

First, Gov. Scott Walker tacitly endorsed a proposal that would split Wisconsin's electoral votes by congressional district. Now Wisconsin's own RNC Chairman, Reince Priebus, is murmuring his approval.

"I think it's something that a lot of states that have been consistently blue that are fully controlled red ought to be looking at," Priebus said of the plan to change how electoral votes are granted.

Such a system "gives more local control" to the states, he argued.

By coincidence, of course, the 2011 Republican-run redistricting process gave the state five Republican seats and three Democratic seats. Had the state divvied up EVs in 2012, Mitt Romney would have won as many electors as Barack Obama despite winning 213,019 fewer votes. (That's larger* than the total number of votes Romney won in South Dakota.) The "local control" Priebus is talking about here would minimize the votes of urban Democrats, most of them now packed into Milwaukee-centered and Madison-centered districts.

So we've got five Republican-run states -- Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Virginia -- where an electoral vote split has been discussed in 2013. The fact that Republicans can still use the bogus "local control" argument and not get laughed out of the room is promising for them, if they decide to ram this stuff through. But the Journal-Sentinel also quotes Priebus as saying the idea didn't come from him. That's part of the sales pitch; at the same time, it says that Republicans are anticipating the (entirely correct) "power grab" attack.

*A mental hiccup lead me to write "larger" and "smaller." Ironic, when you think about it.

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http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2013/01/14/reince_priebus_gop_s_electoral_vote_split_scheme_would_give_more_local_control.html?wpisrc=newsletter_jcr:content

[Turbineguy]

1. "local control" the new code word

for republican controlled elections. To be followed by the Reichstag Fire?

[dragonlady]

2. They like local control except when they don't

Currently the Wisconsin GOP legislature is trying to cut the pay of members of the Milwaukee County Board from the current $50,000 to $15,000. That would make it in effect a part-time job and make it almost impossible for the progressive members who treat it as full-time work for their constituents. They also want to cut the board's budget from $6.5 million to $0.5 million (half a million!), leaving almost nothing for legislative aides, stenographers at meetings, etc. The aim is to give the county executive greater power, and the current executive is a DINO in the style of Scott Walker. The plan as now envisioned would put this on the ballot as a referendum in the April election when turnout in Milwaukee is usually low. Oh, and they wouldn't put the part about the budget in the referendum question because it would make the ballot too long (but it would still be part of the deal). This would have been unbelievable only a few years ago, but that's what controlling all three branches of government will do to modern Republicans.

[pansypoo53219]

3. or gerrymander a win. MORE CALVINBALL.

why can't they win on IDEAS? because they are bad ideas.

[WI_DEM]

4. Why is it that these damn republicans think they can change the rules all the time

and get away with it! I'm fucking sick and tired of it. I wish we could do this in Texas and some other GOP states if they are going to start doing this in blue states. The GOP can't win without trying to manipulate the system.

[Drunken Irishman]

5. This is the way the Republicans plan to control the White House for a generation or more.

And it'll work. There is nothing unconstitutional about it. It's unethical, and dishonest, but it's not unconstitutional. It wouldn't surprise me if Obama is the last Democratic president we see in the next 20 or so years.