NC senate passes bill on Electoral College votes


Bill would give North Carolina’s Electoral College votes to the presidential candidate receiving the most popular votes nationwide

Smarting from the unpopularity of their candidates for president, legislative Democrats passed, on a straight party-line vote, a bill that would give North Carolina’s votes in the Electoral College to the presidential candidate that received the most votes nationwide.

North Carolina’s Electoral College votes currently go to the candidate receiving the majority of votes cast in North Carolina. Support for passage of the bill has been led by a high powered lobbying firm hired by out-of-state interests.

The legislation is the brainchild of two Californians – one a San Francisco Lawyer, the other a college professor – that have given over $750,000 dollars to liberal Democrat candidates and causes since 1990. The bill totally disregards the rights of North Carolina’s voters and, in effect would thwart the will of North Carolina’s voters in three of the last four elections. North Carolina’s votes in the Electoral College in those presidential elections were cast as follows: 2004-Bush; 2000-Bush; 1996-Dole; 1992-Bush. In essence, the Electoral College would disregard votes cast by North Carolinians in favor of the presidential choice of people in states with larger populations.

Senate Republican Leader Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) issued the following statement:

“This bill should outrage voters in North Carolina and anyone who believes that the votes of citizens deserve to be counted. It fundamentally changes the way the President of the United States is elected. Our Founding Fathers designed a federal system of government that balanced the rights of small and medium sized states like North Carolina against the large states like New York, Texas and California when electing our president. If there is a problem with that system — the Electoral College — it could be changed by a Constitutional amendment. This bill bypasses the established amendment process, ignores the people of North Carolina, and furthers the agendas of out-of-state interests.

“Senate Democrats are trying to take what their party cannot win at the ballot box. Because national Democrats and their liberal policies, time and time again, have been rejected by the people of North Carolina, they want to award North Carolina’s presidential electors based on votes cast in other states. Instead of competing for North Carolina’s vote in the marketplace of ideas, they choose this bill to support the liberal national Democratic agenda. This is an attempt to insure that those seeking the Democrat nomination for president, like Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards, can win North Carolina’s presidential electoral votes without having to appeal to North Carolina’s voters or even appear in our state.

“Hopefully the state House will see this bill for what it is and will stand up for North Carolina’s voters.”