A Republican plan to rig the next presidential race by changing the way electoral votes are allocated in several key blue states appears to be dead in Ohio — although it could still advance in other Republican-controlled states such as Michigan, Pennsylvania or Wisconsin. Several of the senior-most Republican officials in Ohio told the Cleveland Plain Dealer that they do not intend to push the GOP election-rigging plan:
Spokesmen for Gov. John Kasich, State Senate President Keith Faber and House Speaker William G. Batchelder told The Plain Dealer this week that they are not pursuing plans to award electoral votes proportionally by congressional district.
Batchelder went a step further, saying through his communications director that he “is not supportive of such a move.” And Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted, the state’s chief elections administrator, emphasized that he does not favor the plan either, despite Democratic suspicions based on reported comments that he said were taken out of context.
“Nobody in Ohio is advocating this,” Husted said in a telephone interview.
Although the death of this election-rigging plan in Ohio is an important victory for the principle that Americans choose their own leaders — and do not have them chosen for them by partisans in state capitols — there is still very real danger Republicans could push this plan in other states. Michigan House Speaker Jase Bolger (R) indicated he is open to the election-rigging plan late last week, and Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett (R) and state Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R) both support rigging the Electoral College.
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