Delegate Jim Scott's Richmond Report

Bill Elvin, Martha Pennino and Bert Seidman died in recent weeks. I knew them. I admired them for integrity, their commitment to public service, to high standards and to our community.

They lived until their eighties, retiring in communities they helped to shape although they were not natives of our area. Martha was called “Mother Fairfax” because of her personality and the impact she had on Fairfax County and the region. She carefully shepherded the growth and success of Reston although she lived much longer in Vienna where she started her political career as a Town Council member. Of all the people associated with the creation of the County’s government center, none contributed more than Martha did. She recognized early that a new seat of government was necessary, and led the Board into committing to making it happen.

Bill Elvin was Mr. Journalism to McLean and much of the rest of Fairfax County. Although I counted him as a friend and supporter, I admired him for his love of his community, his commitment to factual, professional journalism without sensationalism of any kind. When Bill started his fledgling newspaper, known as the Providence Journal, Delegate Vince Callahan let him use space in his house as an office. Always completely committed to the facts, Bill was known as a journalist’s journalist.

Bert Seidman was a true champion of the disadvantaged and the elderly. He was the leader in the union movement, and, along with his wife, Annabel, a civic leader and volunteer extraordinaire. He was a fervent and effective advocate for Social Security. Long active in Fairfax County politics, Bert was an early and active supporter of civil rights. Many Northern Virginia elected officials counted him as a friend and valued ally.

Winner take all: a relic?

With less than three weeks before the Presidential election, isn’t it time to re-consider whether one of the vestiges of bygone election campaigns—the winner-take-all state systems of choosing electors—is the best method. Forty-eight states continue the tradition of apportioning all the state electors by the state popular vote totals.

Only Maine and Nebraska are different. In those states, the legislatures have required that electors will be apportioned according the Congressional district, not the statewide, totals. This system encourages voter participation in some states that are “in play”, but in the majority where neither party runs campaigns to contest the polling results and the conventional wisdom, turnout is discouraged.

It is time to change. Since 1992, I have introduced bills to put Virginia on the Maine and Nebraska system. In 1992, the bill making change passed in the House, but failed in the Senate. Had it passed, Virginia would have cast three electoral votes for Al Gore in 2000. Had it passed in all states, President Bush would have won, but there would have been more lively contests in all states, and, I predicted, higher voter participation in all states.

If you are intrigued by this idea, keep your eye on Colorado. On the November ballot is an initiative, which, if passed, will make that state the third to use Congressional district apportionment. I understand it may apply to this year’s results.

Delegate Jim Scott may be emailed at deljscott@aol.com