Democrats introduce constitutional amendment to abolish Electoral College

Even when they lose the popular vote, Democrats still want to take it out on the Electoral College.

Three Democratic senators introduced a constitutional amendment Monday to abolish the body that has formally elected the president for the nation’s entire history.

Sens. Brian Schatz of Hawaii, Richard J. Durbin of Illinois and Peter Welch of Vermont said it is time to “restore democracy” by changing the presidential election to a national popular vote.

“In an election, the person who gets the most votes should win. It’s that simple,” Mr. Schatz said, according to a report in The Hill.

“No one’s vote should count for more based on where they live. The Electoral College is outdated and it’s undemocratic. It’s time to end it,” he said.

Mr. Durbin, who also is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee for the remainder of this Congress, said the Electoral College “disenfranchises millions of Americans.”

Under the Electoral College system, the president and vice president are formally chosen by electors who represent their respective states.

The 50 states and the District of Columbia get varying numbers of electors, depending on their population and the apportionment of seats in Congress.

Almost all the states — Maine and Nebraska are the only exceptions — grant all their Electoral College votes to whichever candidate got more votes in the state, whether it’s by one vote or a million votes.

The winner of the popular vote, including President-elect Donald Trump in 2024, almost always has won the Electoral College also.

But two of the exceptions have occurred in the last quarter-century and both benefited Republicans — George W. Bush in 2000 and Mr. Trump in 2016. As a result, recent calls to abolish the Electoral College have almost exclusively come from Democrats.

For that reason also though, the three Democrats’ amendment has basically no chance to get the required two-thirds majority in both houses of a closely-divided Congress.

It may have even less chance of then being ratified by three-fourths of the states, many of which would become less important under a national popular vote system.

For the last few election cycles, the vast majority of states have been considered uncompetitive — any credible Democrat will win California or New York and Republicans barely try there, and vice versa in Texas and Florida.

In 2024, almost all the campaigning by Mr. Trump and by President Biden or Vice President Kamala Harris was done in seven key “swing states” that were close enough in polling to make a concerted effort worth the while — Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia, North Carolina, Nevada and Arizona.

The Democrats argue that this effectively disenfranchises the other 40-odd states.

“Our democracy is at its strongest when everyone’s voice is heard — and right now our elections aren’t as representative as they should be because of the outdated and flawed electoral college,” Mr. Welch said.

None of the three senators hails from a state (Illinois, Hawaii, Vermont) that is considered competitive at the presidential level.