How to siphon votes away from blue states

Washington Post ^ | December 11, 2012 | Brad Plumer

[neverdem]

In most states, presidential elections are fairly simple. Whichever candidate garners the most votes wins all of that state’s electoral votes. There are two tiny exceptions (Maine and Nebraska), but that’s typically how it works. President Obama won a majority of votes in Pennsylvania, so he got all 20 of its electoral votes.

Over the past year, however, a number of Republican lawmakers in blue states have been pushing an alternative system. The states would split their electoral votes between different candidates. As Dave Weigel points out, this was first floated by conservatives in Ohio and Pennsylvania before the 2012 election, only to get shot down. But now the idea’s steadily making a comeback. So let’s look at some of the different proposals here — as well as what effect they would have had on the 2012 presidential election.

Pennsylvania I: Last year, Republican State Senate Leader Dominic Pileggi proposed a bill that would...

--snip--

Virginia: Ari Berman points to another recent proposal from Virginia State Sen. Charles Carrico Sr. This one goes much further than any of the above plans. Electoral votes get divided by congressional district. On top of that, another two electoral votes would go to the candidate who wins the most districts. So, in 2012, Obama won the popular vote in Virginia. But under Carrico’s plan, Romney would have received 9 electoral votes and Obama would have received just 4.

One common argument for these plans is that it gives rural voters a greater voice; Dave Weigel dissects that strange logic here. But there’s also an undeniable partisan appeal. As Berman points out, if GOP-controlled legislatures in Florida, Michigan, Ohio, Virginia, Florida, and Pennsylvania had all adopted versions of this vote-splitting plan, then Romney would have won the White House with 270 electoral votes in 2012...

[MattinNJ]

Great suggestion and one of the blessings of Sandy is that I came to sad realization that I won’t be able to ride things out here. I am thinking about a rural redoubt two hours from here.

[MattinNJ]

Another lesson that I learned is that supplies don’t last as long as your rosiest projection. Good trial run

[ROCKLOBSTER]

Hope you can pull it off, and welcome back to The States.

[txnativegop]

I have followed a simple rule: I imagine my worst case scenario and then multiply by a factor of 4.

Not fool-proof, but better than rose-colored glasses.