Legislators propose Electoral College reform
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On the day Minnesota's presidential electors met to cast their votes, supporters of a national popular vote made a case for changing the Electoral College system.
State Sen. Ann Rest, DFL-New Hope, and state Rep. Pat Garofalo, R-Farmington, announced plans for bipartisan legislation next session that would award Minnesota's 10 electoral votes to the presidential candidate who wins the most popular votes in all 50 states, regardless of who Minnesota votes for. Garofalo said the change would guarantee equal value for every vote.
"If you look at the current process, everyone understands that places like Ohio, Pennsylvania, swings states, this is a really good process for them right now," Garofalo said. "Unfortunately, the rest of the country gets hosed."
Organizers of the national effort stress that they are not trying to eliminate the Electoral College, and that a constitutional amendment is not needed to make the changes they seek. They say the new rules would take effect when states possessing a majority of 270 electoral votes enact an identical bill. So far,
nine
eight states and the District of Columbia with 132 electoral votes are on board.
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