An effort by the Senate majority leader to bypass the Electoral College was crushed in a House committee Thursday after constitutional scholars tesitified it would wreak havoc with elections.
The House State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee voted 10-1 to bury Senate Bill 46, by Sen. Ken Gordon, D-Denver, which would have made Colorado part of an interstate compact to elect the president by popular vote, instead of the current Electoral-College system.
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GOP Senators, from left, Greg Brophy, Josh Penry and Andy McElhany, share a moment on the Senate floor. |
Sen. Josh Penry, R-Fruita, who fought the measure in the Senate, said House Democrats as well as Repuiblicans showed common sense in killing the bill.
“It’s too bad it was forced through the Senate on such a partisan basis,” Penry said today. “It seemed like a lot of Senate Democrats were just trying to refight the 2000 election."
Jack Pommer, D-Boulder, was the House sponsor of SB 46, which aimed to join states together in a pool that would give electoral votes to the presidential candidate who receives the most popular votes during a nationwide election, even if the majority of Colorado voters supported another candidate.
During the Senate debate on the issue, Gordon, who failed in his bid to become secretary of state, called SB 46 “healthy for democracy.”
Yet, Senate Republicans countered that it made little sense to force Colorado's voters to support the presidential pick of other states if it flouted the will of Colorado voters.
The measure passed 19-15 by the full Senate last month, with all but one of 20 Democrats supporting it. Sen. Lois Tochtrop, D-Thornton, joined Republicans in the vote against SB 46.
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As reported in today's Rocky Mountain News, Professor Jim Riley, of Regis University, blasted Gordon's bill in testimony before the House committee.
"This proposal has a goal that is misguided, potentially disastrous and uses a method to achieve its passage that is devious and disrespectful of the U.S. Constitution," said Riley. "I say this intending no exaggeration."
As also reported in the News, University of Denver law Professor Robert Hardaway testified that the measure's attempt to circumvent the Electoral College would result in chaos in close presidential elections.
"You think 2000 was bad?" Hardaway told committee members. "You'd have recounts in every precinct in every state."
Sen. Greg Brophy, R-Wray, said SB 46 was an example of Democrats trying to push controversial legislation through the General Assembly that already had failed at the ballot. A statewide ballot issue to change the way Colorado apportions its electoral votes failed by a wide margin in 2004.
“The theme of Democrats this year is arrogance,” Brophy said. “They keep ramming bills through that have already failed on the ballot.”
Senate Minority Leader Andy McElhany noted that it seemed odd for Gordon to push legislation like SB 46, especially after attempting to become secretary of state.
“It’s more than a little disturbing to see Senator Gordon, who aspired to be the state’s chief-elections clerk, be so willing to toss away the voice of our voters by pushing this propaganda,” said McElhany.