Rep. Ray Pilon files bill to end Florida’s “winner takes all” electoral votes for president

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Republican state Representative Ray Pilon filed a proposal that would end Florida’s “winner takes all” practice of awarding all the electoral votes to the presidential candidate that carries the state.

Pilon wants to create one presidential elector from each congressional district and two at-large districts. At-large electors would cast ballots for the presidential candidate getting the most votes in a majority of congressional districts.

This “district method” was adopted in Nebraska in 1991, where two electors at large and one elector for each congressional district are pledged to each president/vice-president ticket.  Electors pledged to the ticket having received the plurality of votes within each Congressional District.

In the 2008 and 2012 elections, Democrat Barack Obama won all of Florida’s electoral votes — 27 went to Obama. In 2012, it increased to 29 votes.

Peter Schorsch is the President of Extensive Enterprises and is the publisher of some of Florida’s most influential new media websites, including SaintPetersBlog.com, FloridaPolitics.com, ContextFlorida.com, and Sunburn, the morning read of what’s hot in Florida politics. SaintPetersBlog has for three years running been ranked by the Washington Post as the best state-based blog in Florida. In addition to his publishing efforts, Peter is a political consultant to several of the state’s largest governmental affairs and public relations firms. Peter lives in St. Petersburg with his wife, Michelle, and their daughter, Ella.