Quote of the Day: Being Outvoted is Unfair and Demoralizing

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From Virginia state senator Bill Carrico, explaining why rural voters are unhappy with Virginia’s current method of simply counting up the votes statewide in presidential elections:

The last election, constituents were concerned that it didn’t matter what they did, that more densely populated areas were going to outvote them.

Ah, yes. All of Virginia’s “more densely populated areas” are outvoting them. I wonder who they could possibly be talking about? That’s a real chin scratcher.

And while we’re on the subject, here’s a bonus quote from Michigan representative Pete Lund, explaining why his Electoral College vote-rigging scheme is gaining support this year but didn’t in 2012:

It got no traction last year. There were people convinced Romney was going to win and this might take (electoral) votes from him.

Points for honesty, I guess, but not for IQ. Didn’t anyone tell Lund that you’re supposed to pretend there’s nothing partisan about all these bills, just an honest attempt to represent the will of the people more fairly?

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DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do things differently in the aftermath of a political crisis: Watergate. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after, and go deep on, stories others don’t. And we’re a nonprofit newsroom because we knew corporations and billionaires would never fund the journalism we do. Our reporting makes a difference in policies and people’s lives changed.

And we need your support like never before to vigorously fight back against the existential threats American democracy and journalism face. We’re running behind our online fundraising targets and urgently need all hands on deck right now. We can’t afford to come up short—we have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

Please help with a donation today if you can—even just a few bucks helps. Not ready to donate but interested in our work? Sign up for our Daily newsletter to stay well-informed—and see what makes our people-powered, not profit-driven, journalism special.

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