Minn. panel downs bill altering presidential vote
Minnesota will stick by its method of awarding Electoral College votes to the presidential candidate favored by the state's voters after lawmakers snubbed a national push to band states together.
By an 8-8 vote Thursday, a Minnesota House elections committee defeated legislation embracing an interstate compact to award electoral votes to the candidate who wins the national popular vote - even if Minnesotans backed someone else. Minnesota currently has 10 electoral votes, reflective of its congressional delegation's size.
The compact has been ratified in four states - Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland and New Jersey - and is moving ahead in several other capitols. It wouldn't take effect until enough states sign on to account for 270 electoral votes - the number it takes to win the White House.
Several Minnesota lawmakers were fearful the change would mean less courtship of their state's voters by presidential candidates. With Minnesota's exhausting Senate battle fresh in mind, others worried about how the new system would fare in a tight election.
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"This is a creative way around the Constitution," said Rep. Morrie Lanning, R-Moorhead. "It is a creative way to change the intent of the founding fathers of our country and I cannot support it."
Rep. Steve Simon, DFL-St. Louis Park, disputed the characterization.
The Constitution's framers, he said, "gave the states freedom to allocate them on whatever basis they wanted."
The measure is designed to prevent a repeat of the 2000 election, when Democrat Al Gore won the nationwide popular vote but Republican George W. Bush racked up more electoral votes en route to the presidency.
Minnesota and all but two states pledge their full slate of electoral votes to the candidate who wins the popular vote in their state.
"Right now the electoral college is a rubber stamp in each state," said Chris Pearson of the National Popular Vote initiative. "We're changing it to a rubber stamp for the whole country."
The bill is still alive in the Minnesota Senate, but would require uncommon procedural tactics to resuscitate it in the House this session.