October 12, 2006

by Assemblymember John Laird

I represented California in 1992, 1996 and 2000 by casting votes for president and vice president in the Electoral College. It is this constitutional anachronism that allowed George W. Bush to lose the popular vote but win the presidency in 2000, and almost allowed the reverse to happen with John Kerry in 2004.

All of each state’s votes go to one candidate for President in a “winner-take-all” system, regardless of how close the vote was in that state. Voters in small states have much more impact on the presidential election than voters in big states like California.

We had a chance to change that outdated system this year. Assembly Elections Chair Tom Umberg authored AB 2948, of which I was a joint author, to substitute a new interstate compact system to allow the popular vote to carry the day. We missed the opportunity for this reform when the governor vetoed this bill last week.

The national election has devolved into fifty-one campaigns (including Washington, D.C.) for electoral votes and the presidential campaign has now become the fight for a few battleground states like Florida, Ohio, Nevada and Wisconsin. The last time presidential candidates came to California to do anything but raise money was 1992.

There is not much hope to change the system through a constitutional amendment, because the small states that benefit from the Electoral College can block the three fourths vote of the states to change the way a president is elected.

That was the beauty of AB 2948. Under its provisions, California would give its electoral votes to the presidential nominee who gets the most votes nationwide—not the most votes in California. The California legislation would not take effect until enough states passed such laws to make up a majority of the Electoral College votes—a minimum of eleven states.

Interstate compacts are permitted, and each state has the right to determine how its presidential electors are selected. The bill does not disband the Electoral College, but allows for electors to be selected on a basis that honors the popular vote. Each vote and each state WOULD count in the presidential election.

It is a disappointment the governor vetoed this bill. Some Republicans joined Democrats in passing it out of the legislature. But other states are considering it, and I think it’s a matter of time before we rightfully junk a national electoral system that just isn’t working.