State Senate committee blocks Electoral College change

A State Senate committee voted Tuesday to kill legislation that would have set a new course for apportioning Virginia’s 13 electoral votes.

The proposal would have broken up the state’s electoral votes by congressional district rather than the current winner-take-all system that allowed Democrat Barack Obama to win the state in each of the past two presidential cycles.

If the proposed system had been in place in 2012, Obama would have won just four of the state’s 13 electoral votes despite winning a popular-vote majority in Virginia.

“I commend the members of Senate Privileges & Elections Committee that voted to reject a bill to allot Virginia’s electoral votes by congressional district,” said State Del. Charniele Herring, the chairman of the Democratic Party of Virginia, in a statement after the vote.

“We deserve fair representation across the Commonwealth not legislation aimed at dividing Virginians,” Herring said. “Republicans in the legislature should focus on creating jobs and fixing the transportation problem plaguing Virginia instead of trying to rig elections in their favor.”