Push to abandon Electoral College gains steam

The National Popular Vote movement is aimed at preventing a repeat of 2000, when Democrat Al Gore lost despite getting more votes than George W. Bush.

Backers are asking states to change their laws to award their electoral votes to the candidate who wins the popular vote nationally.

A bill to do that was introduced last week in the North Dakota Legislature, even though it could reduce the political influence of small states like North Dakota.

“Its strength is, it is what the people want,” said one of the sponsors, Rep. Duane DeKrey, Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. “It kind of takes out that system where the person who gets the most votes doesn’t necessarily win.”

John Koza, a Stanford University professor who is one of the idea’s principal advocates, said lawmakers in 47 states have agreed to sponsor the plan this year. It was introduced last year in Colorado, Illinois, Louisiana, Missouri, New York and California, where the Legislature approved the measure only to have Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger veto it.

Backers say it would help bring a national focus to presidential campaigns.

Koza said the current system encourages parties to focus on a few contested “battleground” states ? Ohio and Florida, in recent years ? and exaggerates the significance of issues important to those states.

“Why is the rest of the country interested in Cuba? It’s a couple of million people, we don’t trade with them, and it’s certainly been no military threat for 40 years,” Koza said. The reason, he said, is that Florida is a battleground state.

There have been other attempts to change the Electoral College system, but all of them foundered. They were aimed at amending the Constitution, an often drawn-out process that requires approval by Congress and ratification by at least 38 states.

This plan would be accomplished instead through an agreement among the states. It would not take effect unless adopted by state legislatures representing a majority of electoral votes.

Robert Hardaway, a University of Denver law professor and Electoral College expert, warned that the proposed interstate compact may need approval from Congress to be legal. In any case, it is “a terrible idea,” Hardaway said.