Pennsylvania House Republicans Introduce Bill To Rig The 2016 Presidential Election

By Ian Millhiser/Think Progress

Earlier this week, Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus endorsed a Republican plan to rig the next presidential election to make it nearly impossible for the Democratic candidate to win the White House, no matter who the American people vote for. The election-rigging plan, which would allocate electoral votes by congressional district rather than by states as a whole in a handful of states that consistently vote for Democratic presidential candidates, would have allowed Mitt Romney to narrowly win the Electoral College last November despite losing the popular vote by nearly four points.

On Monday, seven Pennsylvania Republican state representatives introduced a bill to make this vote-rigging scheme a reality in their state. Under their bill, the winner of Pennsylvania as a whole will receive only 2 of the state’s 20 electoral votes, while “[e]ach of the remaining presidential electors shall be elected in the presidential elector’s congressional district.”

Pennsylvania is a blue state that voted for the Democratic presidential candidate in everysingle presidential race for the last two decades, so implementing the GOP election-rigging plan in Pennsylvania would make it much harder for a Democrat to be elected to the White House. Moreover, because of gerrymandering, it is overwhelmingly likely that the Republican candidate will win a majority of Pennsylvania’s electoral votes even if the Democrat wins the state by a very comfortable margin. Despite the fact that President Obama won Pennsylvania by more than 5 points last November, Democrats carried only 5 of the state’s 18 congressional seats. Accordingly, Obama would have likely won only 7 of the state’s 20 electoral votes if the GOP vote rigging plan had been in effect last year.

One mitigating factor is that only 7 of the Pennsylvania House’s 109 Republicans are original sponsors of the election-rigging bill, so it is unclear that this is a major priority for the GOP state house caucus. Nevertheless, both Gov. Tom Corbett (R-PA) and state Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R-PA) support the plan, so there is a real risk that Pennsylvania Republicans will try to write the voters out of the next presidential election.

Pennsylvania Democrats say ‘misguided’ voter ID law wastes $11 million

By Eric W. Dolan/Raw Story

The Democratic Party of Pennsylvania condemned a voter ID law passed by the state legislature on Wednesday as a waste of taxpayer money.

“At a time when we need to focus on creating jobs and getting the economy back on track, Pennsylvania Republicans have spent significant time trying to disenfranchise voters at a cost of $11 million to taxpayers,” said Pennsylvania Democratic Party Chairman Jim Burn. “Today, Republicans passed this misguided legislation. It is an unnecessary and costly piece of legislation that is truly a solution a search of a problem.

The law requires voters in the state to present a photo ID when they cast ballots in federal, state and local elections.

The Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Centerestimated the legislation would cost $11 million. In order to withstand legal challenges, the state must provide photo IDs for free, notify and educate voters about the new voting restrictions, hire more election staff, and purchase additional photo ID equipment.

“Republicans should have spent their time working on legislation to create jobs instead of engaging in a political power grab,” Burn added. “Despite the Republicans’ attempts to silence voters, Democrats will ensure that every voter in Pennsylvania will have their voices heard in 2012 and beyond.”

Republican Gov. Tom Corbett has said he would sign the bill into law.

Republicans claim voter ID laws are necessary to prevent widespread voter fraud, but there is no evidence of such a plot against American elections. Instead, ID laws have been empirically demonstrated to drive down the number of votes (PDF) cast for Democrats by minorities, students, the poor and the elderly, who are less likely to carry a photo ID.

Voter ID laws have been shopped in numerous states by the American Legislative Exchange Council, a little known conservative lobbying group funded by wealthy interests, which purports to write bills for lawmakers.

So far, eight states have passed voter ID laws, and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has placed them squarely in his sights during an election year fraught with partisan politics.

The Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Centerestimated the legislation would cost $11 million. In order to withstand legal challenges, the state must provide photo IDs for free, notify and educate voters about the new voting restrictions, hire more election staff, and purchase additional photo ID equipment.

“Republicans should have spent their time working on legislation to create jobs instead of engaging in a political power grab,” Burn added. “Despite the Republicans’ attempts to silence voters, Democrats will ensure that every voter in Pennsylvania will have their voices heard in 2012 and beyond.”

Republican Gov. Tom Corbett has said he would sign the bill into law.

Republicans claim voter ID laws are necessary to prevent widespread voter fraud, but there is no evidence of such a plot against American elections. Instead, ID laws have been empirically demonstrated to drive down the number of votes (PDF) cast for Democrats by minorities, students, the poor and the elderly, who are less likely to carry a photo ID.

Voter ID laws have been shopped in numerous states by the American Legislative Exchange Council, a little known conservative lobbying group funded by wealthy interests, which purports to write bills for lawmakers.

So far, eight states have passed voter ID laws, and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has placed them squarely in his sights during an election year fraught with partisan politics.