Maryland begins Electoral College breakaway
It only comes into effect if states representing a majority of the electoral college also do it, but Maryland has enacted a law that would require its electors to vote with the winner of the national popular vote:
Maryland officially became the first state on Tuesday to approve a plan to give its electoral votes for president to the winner of the national popular vote instead of the candidate chosen by state voters.This is a great idea. The Electoral College is a stupid anachronism that disenfranchises ME personally (and millions of other people, but who cares about them). Californians get much less say per capita on who gets to be president than Wyoming does, and that just plain sucks (it's also unfair). It's embarrassing that our nation has to suffer the indignity of having the candidate who won the popular vote not be elected, like Al Gore in 2000. (HT: Sullivan)
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The measure would award Maryland's 10 electoral votes to the national popular vote winner. The plan would only take effect if states representing a majority of the nation's 538 electoral votes decided to make the same change.
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Raskin, a Democrat, said he hoped Maryland's support for the idea will start a national discussion and "kick off an insurrection among spectator states—the states that are completely bypassed and sidelined" during presidential campaigns.
Comments
But note that a voter in Wyoming actually is equally important as a voter in California under the current system -- both are equally ignored. Indeed about two-thirds of Americans live in states where not a single person is polled and no campaign resources are spent to persuade them or mobilize their resources. This includes almost every small population state and most large population states.
To support this effort in your state, check out the USA map at www.nationalpopularvote.com