Backers abandon 2019 Ohio push to bypass Electoral College

[brooklynite]

Source: Columbus Dispatch

Barely a week after launching an effort to award Ohio’s electoral votes to the presidential candidate who receives the most popular votes nationally, supporters abandoned the quest for this year.

“Due to the time constraints and high number of signatures needed to place a proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot for 2019, it will not be possible to meet the deadline for this year,” said a news release from the attorney handling the issue, longtime Democrat Don McTigue of Columbus.

“The committee, therefore, notified the Ohio secretary of state (Tuesday) that they are withdrawing the petition.”

Secretary of State Frank LaRose canceled an Ohio Ballot Board meeting slated for Wednesday that could have given the green light for the petition drive on the issue. Supporters of the proposed amendment faced gathering 442,958 valid signatures of registered Ohio voters — 10 percent of the vote cast in the governor’s race last year — by July 3 to place the measure on the Nov. 5 ballot.

Read more: https://www.dispatch.com/news/20190409/backers-abandon-2019-ohio-push-to-bypass-electoral-college

[William Seger]

1. "Before the withdrawal, Gov. Mike DeWine told reporters..."

“Well, I’m against that, I think that’s a stupid idea, frankly. Why would Ohio voters give up their right to make decisions about who the next president of the United States is?”

Can't really expect "battleground" states like Ohio to want a national popular vote -- they won't be "special" if every state is a battleground. As it is, most Americans live in states where one party or the other is going to take all the electoral votes so why bother. We need to find some way to correct this flaw in our democracy.

[sandensea]

2. "Plus," de Wine would whine, "we want the option to steal the results as often as we can."

If you can't beat'em, cheat'em.

[groundloop]

5. What he really means is that this would make it more difficult for repubs to steal elections

Repubs would no longer be able to steal elections by manipulating voter rolls, disenfranchising minorities, and hacking voting machines in just a few key precincts. They'll never go along.

[RhodeIslandOne]

6. Don't worry, if Ohio voters don't support Trump in 2020....

Mike DeWine will probably try to sign an executive order making him the holder of the electoral votes.

[NYC Liberal]

8. How would they be giving up their right to decide the next president?

They would vote. Same as they always have.

[BigmanPigman]

3. That's too bad.

Each person's vote should count.

[Wabbajack_]

4. Meh

Trump's Supremes would shoot down this end around anyway. We need a federal constitutional amendment, which I can't see happening unless people take to the streets and demand it.

Or somehow for a Republican to win the popular vote but lose the EC....could have happened in 2004.

[customerserviceguy]

7. Only blue states have gone for this scheme

All it will take is a tight EC vote in 2020, plus Trump winning the popular vote, and this idea is dead. He's told his supporters out in the blue states to run up his totals in the general, he'll ask them to avoid a situation like he faced in 2016 where he had to fall back on the BS that "illegals" gave Hillary her three million vote victory in the election.

There were probably quite a few Trump supporters in the last election living in blue states who believed the polls, and figured that their vote would be meaningless. Trump will surely remind them again why it is not.

[SergeStorms]

9. So they'd be given 2 months....

to collect fewer than 450,000 valid signatures for a vote that happens more than 5 months past the July 3rd deadline? Why does it take over 5 months to verify the signatures so they can put in on the November 5 ballot? WHY?