Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 26, 1992 TAG: 9202260228
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B3 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: GREG SCHNEIDER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
ELECTORAL COLLEGE PROPOSAL IS HISTORY
Del. James Scott learned the hard way Tuesday that Thomas Jefferson and James Madison still have clout at the state Capitol.Scott, D-Merrifield, failed to convince a Senate committee that the system those elder statesmen crafted for electing presidents needs reform and has made the Old Dominion an afterthought in national politics.
"The candidates are not going to pay any attention to Virginia," Scott said. "Nobody is spending any time here. . . . They will have to if this bill is passed."
He persuaded the House of Delegates several days ago, but the Senate Committee on Privileges and Elections balked, voting 11-4 to not alter the way Virginia votes in the Electoral College.
The Electoral College convenes after every popular vote for president and does the real electing.
Each state sends one delegate to the Electoral College for each congressional district, plus one for each senator. In Virginia, that's 13 electors.
For 192 years, Virginia has instructed its electors to vote in a bloc for whoever carried the state in the popular balloting. In every election since 1964, that has been the Republican nominee.
The change killed Tuesday would have required each elector to vote the way his or her congressional district voted, with the two at-large delegates still casting for the overall winner.
Only Maine and Nebraska use that system; if every state used it, some presidential elections could have turned out differently. In 1960, for instance, Richard Nixon would have defeated John Kennedy because Nixon won more congressional districts.
Former U.S. Rep. Caldwell Butler of Roanoke - famous for helping turn the tide against Nixon during the Watergate scandal - invoked Jefferson and Madison in urging the committee to defeat the bill. Butler also warned that dividing the electors would dilute Virginia's clout.
But Scott insisted it would have the opposite effect, drawing candidates to Virginia with the promise of some electoral votes even if the state as a whole was beyond reach.
"The winner-take-all idea is an outmoded idea we really ought to try to address," he said.
Scott vowed to push the idea again next year.
Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY