LinkRepublicans are trying their best to rig the 2016 presidential election by changing how electoral votes are allocated in some key states.
In a previous post it was noted that Rachel Maddow had a thing or two to say about the Virginia (and the other states) election-rigging scheme, but was concerned that nobody was listening. In the video, she said:
“This is going on in the states right now. Hey beltway, wake up!”
They woke up. Finally. I've posted about this a few times over the past several days (scroll), Rachel and others on MSNBC have been reporting on it, but most of the corporate media were asleep at the wheel... until today.
WaPo front paged it:
Republicans in Virginia and a handful of other battleground states are pushing for far-reaching changes to the electoral college in an attempt to counter recent success by Democrats.
In the vast majority of states, the presidential candidate who wins receives all of that state’s electoral votes. The proposed changes would instead apportion electoral votes by congressional district, a setup far more favorable to Republicans. Under such a system in Virginia, for instance, President Obama would have claimed four of the state’s 13 electoral votes in the 2012 election, rather than all of them.
It's a sneaky and very disturbing way to cheat democracy. Then again, the GOP knows the only way they can win is to lie, cheat, and steal, because America sure isn't buying into their policy ideas.
But there are glimmers of hope, and they come to us by way of Steve Benen at The Maddow Blog:
The larger fight, however, is anything but static. GOP leaders in Florida's legislature are already announcing their opposition to the scheme, and in Virginia, where the Republican plan to rig the election is an immediate threat -- a vote may come as early as next week -- GOP unanimity is starting to crumble.
Benen has the details at the link.
And one more ray of sunshine, brought to you by Kevin Drum at Mother Jones: Republicans Might Be Outsmarting Themselves on the Electoral College. It's short and worth a read. Here's a tease:
This is so obviously outrageous that it's likely to prompt a backlash. Democrats don't have the votes to fight back with anything similar, but they do have another weapon in their back pocket: the National Popular Vote interstate compact, an agreement among states to award all their electoral votes to whichever presidential candidate wins the popular vote nationwide.
Despite all the hopeful reports, it's still mandatory that we make sure every voter hears about these schemes so that we can rectify the damage and dirty tricks. Spread the word.
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