
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Legislative Republicans in Virginia are pushing a raft of election and voting reforms that, as a whole, could substantially boost the party's prospects in presidential, statewide and legislative elections.
An ambitious menu of GOP legislation aims to further tighten voter identification rules and apportion presidential electors by congressional district rather than statewide winner-take-all. And an ambush redistricting push risks paralyzing government in partisan hostilities.
Virginia's not alone in Republican efforts to head off a repeat of last fall's second consecutive whipping by President Barack Obama in a state the GOP had owned for 11 presidential elections. Wisconsin and Pennsylvania are among 2012 battlegrounds considering an electoral college overhaul similar to Virginia's.
But with two Senate Republicans and Gov. Bob McDonnell opposing it, Virginia's 2013 electoral reshuffle plan appears dead.
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