Warren calls for eliminating the Electoral College

Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Monday called for abolishing the Electoral College as part of an effort to expand voting rights, making her one of the first Democrats running for president in 2020 to propose such a radical shift in how U.S. presidents are elected.

In a CNN town hall in Jackson, Mississippi, Warren (D-Mass.) noted that deep red states like Mississippi and deep blue states like California or Massachusetts are rarely campaign stops for presidential candidates during the general election because of an overwhelming focus on swing states with the most Electoral College votes.

“We need to make sure that every vote counts. And you know, I want to push that right here in Mississippi. Because I think this is an important point,” she said. “My view is that every vote matters. And the way we can make that happen is that we can have national voting and that means get rid of the Electoral College.”

Proposals to eliminate the Electoral College have gained steam in the years since President Donald Trump’s 2016 defeat of Hillary Clinton, when Clinton bested Trump in the popular vote by nearly three million votes but lost the Electoral College by a wide margin thanks to close defeats in a handful of key states.

Trump’s victory has given way to momentum for a national popular vote, but the Electoral College’s enshrinement in the Constitution has prompted renewed interest in workarounds to spring up like the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, in which member states pledge their state’s electoral college votes to the winner of the national popular vote.

The pact would only go into effect if enough states sign on to pledge the 270 electoral votes necessary to win a presidential election. With the addition of Colorado last week, states with a combined total of 181 Electoral Votes have committed to the pact.

Critics of a national popular vote argue that the Electoral College ensures presidential candidates won’t focus on major population centers like the East and West coasts, where voters skew Democratic.

The criticism has some basis in the fact that the Democratic candidate for president has won the popular vote in four out of the last five general elections, but has lost the presidency in two of those races.

But Warren framed her proposal as a means to expand voting rights, along with a constitutional amendment “that protects the right to vote for every American citizen and to make sure that vote gets counted.” She called for repealing laws that result in voter suppression nationwide.

“I think everybody ought to have to come and ask for your vote,” she told the crowd, to raucous applause.

Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine

Source: https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/19/elizabeth-warren-eliminate-electoral-college-1226686
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The Article Was Written/Published By: coprysko@politico.com (Caitlin Oprysko)

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