Brendan Boyle launches challenge to Pileggi’s Electoral College plan

    Pa. Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi is facing more opposition to his plans to change the state Electoral College.

    Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Philadelphia/Montgomery, says Pileggi’s plan violates the 14th and 15th Amendments and “has no reason for existence beyond the purely political.”

    Pileggi and General Assembly leaders want to shift to the congressional district method, splitting up 18 of the commonwealth’s 20 electoral votes according to which candidate wins each district. The idea is to break up the Democratic majority in and around Philadelphia and give more weight to rural Republicans.


    Boyle acknowledged that much in his release, saying the plan, “denies equal protection by diminishing the proportionate representation of the Electoral College. This will disparately and negatively impact hundreds of thousands of urban residents statewide.”

    Boyle and America Votes, Common Cause and the League of Women Voters say they’ll file a federal challenge against the Pileggi plan if it passes.


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