The majority leader of the Republican-controlled state senate in Michigan said Tuesday that he questions if it’s necessary to change the way the state allocates its electoral votes in presidential elections, The Detroit News reported.
In GOP state Sen. Randy Richardville’s view, Michigan’s current format — in which the winner of the popular vote in the state claims all 16 electoral votes — isn’t in need of fixing.
“I don’t know that it’s broken, so I don’t know that I want to fix it,” said Richardville.
Under a proposal floated last week by a Republican state house representative, Michigan would divvy up 14 of its electoral votes based on the winner in the state’s congressional districts, with the final two awarded to the winner of the popular vote. Similar measures have been considered by Republican lawmakers in Virginia and Pennsylvania.
The efforts have been widely pilloried as election rigging schemes. Had the Michigan proposal been in place last year, former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney would have won nine of the state’s electoral votes despite losing to President Barack Obama by almost 450,000 votes overall.
