Massachusetts’ Winner-Take-All Electoral System Constitutional

Massachusetts’ winner-take-all system for presidential electors doesn’t infringe on voters’ constitutional rights to equal protection or free association because it treats all voters equally, the First Circuit said.

The system doesn’t favor any specific voters over others, the appeals court said, agreeing with the Fifth Circuit, which recently upheld Texas’ similar process.

Massachusetts and Texas, like 46 other states and District of Columbia, employ a winner-take-all system, in which the candidate for president who receives the most votes claims all the state’s electors to the Electoral College. For Massachusetts, all 11 electors go to the winner.

William Weld, the former ...