Galvin takes aim at Weld vote lawsuit
Calls ex-gov’s move ‘misguided’
Secretary of State William F. Galvin is blasting a lawsuit filed by former Gov. William F. Weld that seeks an end to Massachusetts’ winner-take-all electoral vote apportion system as “mischievous” and “misguided” and part of a “scheme” to sow uncertainty around the 2020 presidential election.
Weld and two other plaintiffs filed suit against Galvin and Gov. Charlie Baker in U.S. District Court on Wednesday, calling on a judge to overturn the state’s practice of awarding all 11 electoral votes in presidential elections to the winner of the statewide popular vote, regardless of the margin of victory.
Most states similarly award their electoral votes on a winner-take-all basis, except Nebraska and Maine, which apportion some to winners by congressional district.
Weld’s suit argues that awarding all the electoral votes to a single winner has “effectively disenfranchised” supporters of minority parties, such as Republicans and Libertarians (Weld ran for vice president on a ticket with Libertarian Gary Johnson in 2016) because their votes aren’t reflected in the Electoral College tally.
Similar suits have been filed in Texas, California and South Carolina, organized by Supreme Court attorney David Boies and the League of United Latin American Citizens.
But Galvin said the suit would simply create a structure where candidates spend more time and money in states with more electoral votes instead of campaigning across the country.
“This is a scheme,” Galvin told the Herald. “If you adopted their theory, it really means preserving the Electoral College. Their theory seems to be that if you change the process by which electoral votes are awarded to a percentage, you’ll restore equity to average voters. That’s simply not true.”
Galvin added, “If you really, truly want to bring about a oneperson, one-vote situation, the true answer is to abolish the Electoral College.”
Galvin also argued the suit would only bring more uncertainty at an already uncertain time in the election process.
Twice in the past 16 years, a president was elected by winning the Electoral College tally, but failing to receive the popular vote.
Former Boston City Councilor Josh Zakim, a Democrat challenging Galvin for Secretary of State this fall, said he didn’t think the lawsuit was the “proper vehicle” for changing the nation’s presidential election process.
“We need to have a popular vote to elect the president and vice president,” Zakim said, “and that’s something we should be working for.”