New York may be the Empire State, the fourth largest state in the country, and a source of campaign cash for candidates in both parties.
But in the grand scheme of electoral politics, New York is something of an afterthought. Two Republican lawmakers want that to change.
Assemblyman Andy Goodell and state Sen. George Borrello this week introduced legislation that would change how New York's votes are allocated in a presidential election.
The move would switch the state from a "winner-take-all" model to one that would allocate electoral votes based on the plurality of the popular vote within each congressional district. Two electors would still be selected based on the statewide vote.
The model is in use for Maine and Nebraska, and nominees have received split decisions in both states. For instance, nominees Barack Obama and John McCain split Nebraska's electoral votes in 2008; Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump did so in 2016.
A change like that would give upstate areas more of an impact in presidential voting consider the deep shade of Republican red several House districts.
“Every campaign season, citizens are encouraged to exercise their right to vote and are barraged with messaging that their ‘vote matters.’ Yet, every four years, that notion is wholly undermined when the two major party candidates for president focus their presence, platform, and resources on a handful of swing states, at the expense of New York voters, whose electoral votes are a foregone conclusion under the current system,” Borrello said.
“Regional political differences are obscured, and it increases assumptions by people in both parties that their vote for president is irrelevant.”
At the moment, a change like this is also unlikely. But calls for the measure also reflect the ongoing concern parts of upstate New York are largely ignored in statewide politics, given the pull of the population in Democratic-dominated New York City.
“Our right to vote is one of America’s most cherished liberties. A key part of encouraging higher turnout is creating a system where citizens feel their vote has an impact,” Goodell said. “Making this change to our presidential election process would be a strong step in that direction.”
New York in 2016 joined the National Popular Vote Compact, a multi-state agreement that is meant to be an end-run around the Electoral College. Reducing the influence of the Electoral College has gained momentum among Democrats after Trump's victory in 2016 in which he lost the popular vote.