Editorial: GOP electoral college maneuver reprehensible

Few people besides Rick Santorum believe he can win the presidential election. If one of his… Few people besides Rick Santorum believe he can win the presidential election. If one of his proposals takes effect, however, he might just win it for somebody else.

Backed by Pennsylvania Republicans like Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, Santorum has championed revamping our state’s Electoral College. Unfortunately — like many of the candidate’s previous initiatives — it comes at the expense of the average voter.

Pennsylvania will have 20 electoral votes in the 2012 election, one less than in 2008. As it stands, when a Presidential candidate wins the state’s popular vote, he or she receives all the electoral votes. Under Santorum’s plan, however, each congressional district would be assigned an electoral vote, and a candidate would claim one per district that swings in his or her favor. Maine and Nebraska already employ this system, but other states, like Colorado, have tried and failed to implement something similar.

Pennsylvania, largely thanks to Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, has roughly 1 million more registered Democrats than it does Republicans. A majority of our districts, however, lean red. Therefore, if we’d adopted the above model three years ago, Obama would have collected only 11 of our state’s then-21 votes. Accordingly, it’s no surprise that the Pennsylvania GOP — which controls both houses and the Governor’s mansion — finds the plan appealing. Governor Tom Corbett has voiced his support.

Some legislators, like Pileggi, assure voters that the measure is civic-minded. Santorum, for once, is not so disingenuous. According to Slate.com’s David Weigel, the former Pennsylvania Senator raved that, under this system, “Republicans will come out ahead in every election … All of a sudden, a Republican can win — and would probably routinely win — all but three or four congressional districts in Pennsylvania.”

However, even if you’re a member of the GOP, Santorum’s plan is not in your best interests. If it takes effect, the redistricting of Pennsylvania is likely to become a politicized ordeal. National-level special interest groups will bombard us with advertisements urging us to ask legislators for district boundaries that favor certain demographics — and thus, certain parties.

We’re even more concerned about the precedent this would set. If politicians were to retool the state’s voting process every four years to benefit their party, we’d wind up with a population continually subject to reshuffling. Fair representation — if it were ever a principle politicians held in esteem — would almost certainly become an afterthought.

Vote manipulation is an inescapable reality when it comes to elections. Nevertheless, we hope Pennsylvanians will recognize Santorum and Pileggi’s proposal for what it is — a transparent maneuver — and somehow ensure that our legislators know we aren’t pleased.