Under intense media criticism, a Republican lawmaker whose legislation would rig Virginia’s Electoral College system today asked the House Privileges and Elections Committee to kill his own bill.
Del. Mark Cole, R-Spotsylvania, effectively withdrew the bill on Friday. A similar bill died in a Senate committee earlier this week.
The effort would have apportioned 11 of Virginia’s 13 electoral votes by congressional district, with the remaining two going to the winner of the vote statewide.
The effect would be to give even more weight to Virginia’s dramatically gerrymandered congressional districts, which have the state represented by seven Republicans and four Democrats in Congress.
This in a state that has voted Democrat in the last three presidential election cycles, Democrats have won the last three U.S. Senate election and Democratic candidates swept the 2013 statewide elections.
“Virginia is one of the most gerrymandered states in the nation, and awarding electoral votes based on those districts only further rigs the system,” said House Democratic Leader David J. Toscano. “I commend Delegate Mark Cole for withdrawing this bill, and I look forward to Speaker Howell’s response to my request for a full floor vote on a proposed amendment to create an independent redistricting commission. Voters should be choosing their representatives, but in Virginia it’s the other way around.”
“HB 1425 would have distorted presidential election results and diluted the power of individual voters,” said Caucus Chair Charniele Herring. “Politicians should not be able to strategically draw boundaries to ensure their perpetual incumbency. We eagerly await a full floor vote on a redistricting amendment. It’s time to make elections fair.”
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