I am concerned about two bills proposed in the Connecticut General Assembly; SB 108 introduced by Sen. Len Suzio, 13th District, and SB 133, introduced by Sen. Art Linares, 33rd District.
These bills would change how Connecticut awards its Electoral College votes to presidential candidates.
Instead of the current method, where the winner of the popular vote statewide is awarded all of Connecticut’s Electoral College votes, these bills propose allocating electoral college votes by congressional district.
Suzio’s bill proposes that the winner of each congressional district would receive one electoral college vote, and the remaining two votes would go to the state-wide winner.
Linares’s bill (somewhat inexplicably) concerns only the electoral college vote for the 2nd Congressional district. These bills are obvious partisan ploys to possibly pick up electoral college votes for the Republican presidential candidate. Even more concerning, the congressional district method of allocating electoral college votes would provide greater motivation for gerrymandering.
Furthermore, studies have shown that if adopted nationwide, this method would make the presidential election less competitive since fewer people live in swing districts than in swing states, and it would increase the likelihood that the winner of the national popular vote would lose the election.
If these senators are really concerned about election reform, they should focus on ensuring that the redistricting process in Connecticut is fair, open and not vulnerable to gerrymandering.
Voters should be wary of these two senators who put their political party above their country and are willing to play partisan games with our democracy.
Kate Gilstad-Hayden lives in Westbrook.