MEMBERS of the gerrymandered California Senate, the great champions of democracy that they are, (once again) want to change the way Californians vote for president.

On Monday, the Senate approved legislation that would effectively bypass the Electoral College. If enough other states passed similar legislation, California's electoral votes wouldn't go to the presidential candidate more Californians voted for, but the one who took the most votes nationwide.

In other words, in 2004, Californians, despite voting overwhelmingly for John Kerry, would have handed a landslide electoral victory to George W. Bush.

In theory, anyway. That's assuming that electors - rabid partisans chosen by the Republican and Democratic establishments, respectively - could somehow be coerced into voting against their party loyalty. And that's an optimistic assumption, at best.

If this cockamamie idea sounds familiar, it's because the Legislature passed (and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wisely vetoed) identical legislation last year.

If legislators are serious about getting rid of the Electoral College, they ought to push for doing so by the means the Constitution prescribes - a constitutional amendment. Meanwhile, legislation that's sure to be vetoed, and which would only disenfranchise the state's voters if signed into law, is a futile effort in the name of democracy.

Let's see our legislators do something about democracy where they actually can make a difference. Instead of passing this ill-fated symbolic gesture a second time, it would be nice if the Legislature would pass redistricting reform even once.