Washblog

The bill is co-sponsored by Washington State Representatives McDermott, Hankins, Miloscia, Armstrong, Jarrett, Campbell, Appleton, Darneille, O'Brien, Hasegawa, Roberts, Ormsby, and Chase.

Apparently, the majority (the Dems) in the House Committee on State Government & Tribal Affairs voted to pass; the minority (the Repubs) voted against it. Now the Rules Committee will consider it.

I know that many Democrats were upset about attempts in California to eliminate the winner-take-all system for allotting the electoral votes, because eliminating that system would benefit the Republican candidates. Similarly, Democrats are upset over efforts by Republicans in some states (e.g., Indiana) to require two forms of identificiation; the supporters of those efforts claim that the aim is to stop voter fraud, but opponents say that the real aim is to suppress minority voters, who tend to vote Democratic. That story is covered here: www.thenation.com....

I'm not sure whether HB 1750 would benefit the Democrats or the Republicans. But it sure seems that it would make the election system fairer and saner by lessening the disproportionate influence of the swing states. It would be make everyone's vote count equally. When only a few states' votes matter, it's easier for special interests to "buy" votes and to rig elections.

There's a national organization supporting this initiative: National Popular Vote. They have a webpage celebrating the Washington effort: www.nationalpopularvote.com....

Do you think that the President of the United States should be elected by popular vote? Rather than voters in a handful of so-called "swing" states deciding the outcome, shouldn't everyone's vote count equally?

I sure do, and I'm writing to let you know about an exciting idea that would implement just such a system.

Common Cause is leading efforts to create an agreement among the states to allocate their presidential electors to the candidate who receives the most votes in all 50 states. Legislation has been introduced in 47 states and to join this new legally binding system that would guarantee that the winner of the popular vote would be elected president.

Maryland and New Jersey have already enacted the plan and it awaits the Governor's signature in Illinois. We need your help to get the bill moving in Washington, where the bill has moved through committee and could go to the House floor soon.

Four times throughout our history, most recently in 2000, the presidential candidate who received the most votes was not elected. In fact, in five of the last twelve presidential elections, a switch of a small number of votes in one or two states would have sent the second place candidate to the White House.

America deserves better, and fortunately the Founding Fathers left us with a mechanism for states to adopt a better system.

We need your help to get the bill moving in Washington.