Plan to divide electoral votes progresses

BOISE – Maine, like Idaho, has only four electoral votes – but President Bush went there 13 times during the campaign. Bush still hasn’t come to Idaho.

The difference? According to House Minority Leader Wendy Jaquet, D-Ketchum, it’s because Maine divides its electoral votes by congressional district, and Bush wanted to make sure its northern district went his way.

With a big, colorful map, historical tidbits and lots of examples, Jaquet on Thursday persuaded the House State Affairs Committee to introduce her bill to divide Idaho’s electoral votes by congressional district, just like Maine and Nebraska.

“Our votes shouldn’t be taken for granted,” Jaquet told the committee.

Currently, Idaho, like most states, uses a winner-takes-all system that gives all of the state’s electoral votes to the presidential candidate who gets the most votes. Jaquet said that convinces some voters that their votes just won’t count.

Though Jaquet’s bill was introduced on a unanimous vote, the mostly Republican committee didn’t commit to supporting the bill, just to giving it a full hearing.

“I have a great deal of respect for the founding fathers, and I’m very reluctant to make changes to what they’ve done – but I am interested in hearing the arguments,” said Rep. Phil Hart, R-Athol.

Jaquet said, “People in Idaho do have a strong desire to make their votes count.” The possibility that electoral votes could split, she said, “would encourage people to get out and vote for a candidate who would be an underdog in the MRSN – the Most Republican State in the Nation. That would increase our turnout, and that’s good for democracy.”

Jaquet said Idaho also has an interest in getting presidential candidates to address the state’s and the region’s issues. “We have these huge federal issues with regard to water, public lands, fish,” she said. But presidential candidates now tend to focus only on swing states, and that hasn’t included Idaho.

“John Kerry came here because he has a house here. He didn’t come to talk to the people of Idaho,” Jaquet said.

Jaquet said when the bill has its public hearing, a constitutional scholar from Idaho State University will help lawmakers understand the issue. She said that scholar, David Adler, helped persuade her to revise her bill from her original idea, which would have divided all four of Idaho’s electoral votes proportionally to match the vote in the election.

Instead, her bill now calls for two of the state’s electoral votes – the two Idaho gets for its two senators – to be decided based on the statewide outcome, while the other two would be determined by congressional district. Idaho has two congressional districts; District 1 takes in North Idaho and stretches down to parts of Boise, while District 2 runs from Boise to eastern Idaho.

That’s the same system Maine and Nebraska already use.

Jaquet said backers of the winner-take-all system who say it gives Idaho more clout are mistaken.

“What clout? Let’s be realistic,” she said. “They’re not hearing from our people.”