A Republican lawmaker in blue Washington State wants to divide the Electoral College votes there by congressional district. The Spokane Statesman-Review reports this exchange with Republican State Representative Matt Shea:
Committee Chairman Sam Hunt, D-Olympia, asked Shea who would have been president right now if all the states had such a system in 2012.
“I don’t know,” Shea replied. “I’d have to do the math.”
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“It would not be Barack Obama,” Hunt said.
In addition to winning the Electoral College, Barack Obama won the popular vote by nearly 5 million.
Shea says that voters in conservative eastern Washington feel disenfranchised, since the liberal coast outweighs them in the popular vote. Under his plan, Mitt Romney would have picked up two votes in that state. Washington has also signed on for the National Popular Vote scheme, which would give the state’s electors to whichever candidate gets the most votes nationwide, if enough other states have signed on. Shea’s bill takes Washington out of that plan. The bill appears to have little chance of advancing. (H/t @KSwa50)
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