Tell the Michigan Legislature: Don't rig our elections!
- by: Nathan Empsall
- recipient: Michigan Governor Rick Snyder and the Michigan Legislature
If a presidential candidate wins 54% of the vote in a state like Michigan, does it make any sense for that candidate to get just 44% of the state's Electoral College votes?
Of course not. So why are four Republican members of the Michigan House of Representatives trying to rig presidential elections in the state?
Four state representatives - Cindy Gamrat, Todd Courser, Thomas Hooker, and Gary Glenn - have introduced House Bill 4310, which would award Electoral College votes to presidential candidates by Congressional District instead of statewide. This is a huge problem because Congressional Districts are gerrymandered to pack Democratic voters into fewer districts. If House Bill 4310 had been the law in 2012, Mitt Romney would have won 9 of the state's 16 electoral votes, even though he lost the state by more than 9%.
In other words, this is a sneaky Republican trick to thwart the will of the voters. Can't win the election? That's okay - just keep changing the rules until you win!
Tell Governor Snyder and the state legislature: Don't mess with democracy! Every Michigan vote must count - reject House Bill 4310!
I am calling on you to fight to stop House Bill 4310 in its tracks! This bill would award Michigan's Electoral College votes by Congressional District instead of statewide. That might sound like a good idea, except as long as there is even a hint of gerrymandering or imbalance in our district boundaries, this bill is just a way of rigging elections. Mitt Romney lost Michigan by 8%, yet under HB 4310, he would have carried 9 of our 16 electoral votes. This bill is simply about thwarting the will of the voters.
It's wrong for a party to insist on keeping power when it loses elections - voters count! Stand for democracy and stand for every Michigan resident's voice - you need to oppose House Bill 4310.
