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Written by Louis Weisberg
Oct 12, 2011
Under a proposed new law being circulated among Republicans in Madison, Wisconsin would split its Electoral College votes for president rather than give them all to the winner.
The GOP’s goal is to prevent President Obama from taking all 10 of the state’s electoral votes if he prevails again in Wisconsin. Under the plan proposed by state Rep. Daniel LeMahieu, R-Cascade, each of the state’s eight congressional districts would receive one electoral vote. The two additional votes would go to the statewide winner of the popular vote.
Currently, Republicans represent five of the state’s congressional districts and Democrats hold three. If Wisconsin voters were to maintain the current partisan split by congressional district in the 2012 presidential race, Obama would receive only half of the state’s electoral votes even if he wins the entire state, under LaMahieu’s plan.
This latest proposal, which comes on top of a new Republican law forcing voters to show photo ID – drew harsh criticism from Democrats and progressives.
“The plot to split Wisconsin’s electoral votes, written by a Koch Brothers corporate front group (the American Legislative Exchange Council), is another bald-faced power grab by Scott Walker's Republican Party,” said the state’s Democratic Party chair Mike Tate.
“The depths to which Republicans in Wisconsin will sink to rig elections appear to be bottomless,” said a Scot Ross, the executive director of One Wisconsin Now. “Now Republicans are attacking the foundation of how Wisconsin participates in electing the president of the United States. Memo to the Republicans: If you would stop doling out corporate tax breaks to your contributors and focus instead on creating jobs, you might not have to rig the ballot box in order to win elections.”
Republicans currently have near-total control of state government, with a GOP governor, Republican majorities in both legislative chambers, and even a vocal Republican majority on the Supreme Court.
Currently only Nebraska and Maine split their electoral votes, but the small population in those states makes it mathematically impossible for a candidate to win the popular vote but lose the electoral vote.
Republicans in Pennsylvania attempted to pass a law similar to the one introduced in Wisconsin last month, but it stalled following an outcry from voters and civic leaders.
Since the Koch brothers control Republican legislatures in many states through their election contributions and third-party advertising, the electoral college law will wind up on the plates of other state legislatures in the coming months.
