GOP Warming Toward Electoral College Vote Allocation "Evolution"

While the mainstream media's liberal camp (yes, there is a conservative one, as well) has focused on the Republican Party's current "disarray," there's been some much more important, long-term thinking among GOP insiders about winning the White House in 2016 and beyond.

Liberals who have crowed about their "new majority" have not bothered to contemplate how close the overall national popular vote for the presidency and vice presidency really was. What tipped the scales was the Electoral College tally, which went strongly for Obama-Biden. Here is where the electoral math does not bode well for the GOP. If you're a Republican and interested in the acquisition, retention, and exploitation of power, perks, and privilege, you need a game changer.

Wisconsin governor Scott Walker
(photo: Wikipedia)

Ironically, the GOP has targeted the instrument of Obama's coup de grace as potential salvation of the party of Abraham Lincoln. In a revealing interview in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Wisconsin governor and GOP poster child Scott Walker noted he was open to changing how the Badger State allocates its presidential electoral votes.

Currently, Wisconsin is a "winner-take-all" state. Walker is contemplating the notion of changing that status to one where essentially each congressional district gets its own elector. Given how political gerrymandering works, that would effectively result in an Electoral College vote that would reflect the composition of the US House of Representatives. In case you're keeping score at home, that would mean a Republican majority. In Wisconsin's case, Walker noted how only two Wisconsin districts are truly "in play." The remainder have solid majorities for one party or the other.

The other unpleasant inference from this scenario is that it will encourage Super PAC funding focus into very specific voting districts, rather than spread out across a state. If you're a right-wing, "high net worth" individual with strong political sentiments, or a liberal labor union with equally firm interests, the GOP's Electoral College gambit has some appeal.

Vice President Dick Cheney (right)
at the Electoral College, 2008
(photo: people.howstuffworks.com)

The GOP proposal does not address the fundamental flaw in the Electoral College concept: its negation of the one-person, one vote principle in presidential elections. In fact, the idea Walker is mulling would aggravate this miscarriage of democratic (no pun intended) principles. It bothers many conservative and liberals that the Electoral College brings additional clout to a single vote in a large state (say, Texas or California) and diminishes the effect of a ballot in a small state (say, Alaska or Hawaii). How would the GOP's version of change bring about increased voting fairness, an issue of concern to both conservatives and liberals?

Early voting line/Miami
(photo: The New York Times)

These arguments, and others about the Electoral College's validity and useful purpose, are not new. The GOP's consideration of an "evolution" of the presidential voting structure is not designed with some altruistic constitutional purpose in mind. The proposal is mainly intended to preserve the GOP's clout. The Republicans are aware that the "new majority" has soundly rejected much of the GOP's social agenda, and that non-Caucasian population's voting numbers are swelling. While the GOP won nearly 60% of the white vote in Obama v. Romney, the African-American, Hispanic, and Asian-American vote got the Democratic ticket over the top in nearly every key state. It is unlikely that any presumed GOP 2016 presidential candidate, with the exception of Jeb Bush, can reach these voting groups.

What's a political party to do? The GOP has control of a number of state legislatures in areas vital to any calculation of Electoral College success. Scott Walker discussed how certain presidential "battleground" states, such as Pennsylvania, might be steppingstones for this Electoral College ploy. Keep in mind that Pennsylvania's legislators passed a Voter ID bill that even a Republican jurist had to overturn. The GOP is far from done, if Walker's comments become concrete action in the Keystone State, Wisconsin, and elsewhere.