Some recent attempts came very close to succeeding. In 1969, the House passed an amendment calling for direct election of the president by a margin of 370-70, and included such supporters as then-Congressmen George H. W. Bush and Gerald Ford and presidents Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter and Lyndon Johnson. A Senate filibuster ended that particular attempt, but it voted in favor of such an amendment ten years later, falling just shy of the required two-thirds majority. Despite popular support, misguided resistance from those who would hang onto this antiquarian system has proved too staunch to result in a change to the Constitution.

Now, with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s electoral intentions a looming question and the lingering memory of what might have been for Ross Perot in 1992 (see FairVote's Perot Simulator), the time is ripe to finally neutralize this electoral relic. It is clearer than ever that the Electoral College’s imaginary benefits are far outweighed by its severe drawbacks; popular vote losers taking office,allowing only a handful of swing states to have any relevance, and opening the system to vulnerability to independent "spoiler" candidacies (see George Wallace’s 48 electoral votes in 1968 and Strom Thurmond’s 39 in 1948) that even have the potential of throwing the election into utter chaos with the U.S. House picking the president and the Senate picking the vice-president.

Luckily, a new plan has emerged to make literally every vote for president count: the National Popular Vote interstate compact, already passed in Maryland, is an agreement between the states (enough that add up to the required electoral vote majority of 270) to allocate their electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote. Every American citizen has their voice heard under this plan and once-ignored states will be showered with attention by candidates - and all without the need to alter our Constitution.

To find out more about the compact, visit NationalPopularVote.com, and check out FairVote’s Presidential Election Inequality report to learn more about why the system is more broken than ever before.


* The 12th Amendment corrected the problematic “approval voting”-type system required by the Constitution until 1800. Electors cast two equally weighted votes, with the winner becoming president and the next finisher vice-president. Thomas Jefferson won the vice-presidency in 1796 over John Adams’ running mate, but then Jefferson in 1800 nearly lost the presidency to his running mate Aaron Burr.

Poll Do you think our Electoral College should be reformed? Yes No Not sure Votes: 14 Results : Vote Link : Polls