Pa. electoral vote plan stirs passions at hearing

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A proposal to change the way Pennsylvania’s electoral votes will be counted in next year’s presidential election stirred up passionate exchanges during a hearing in front of state lawmakers.

The Senate State Government Committee hearing today brought stinging criticism from political scientists about the way congressional districts are drawn.

Republican Gov. Tom Corbett supports changing the current, winner-take-all system as a way to more accurately reflect voter preferences.

The proposal would adopt a system in which voters select presidential electors by congressional district, ensuring that Pennsylvania’s electoral votes are divvied up by the candidates.

But state Sen. Anthony Williams of Philadelphia says the proposal would disenfranchise Philadelphia’s large bloc of minority voters and told a Corbett aide testifying that it’s duplicitous to suggest that the proposal would benefit them.