By Bill Shein
Published June 18th 2006 in The Desert Sun
Rather than an "end run on the U.S. Constitution," the national popular
vote plan recently approved by the California Assembly embraces the
constitutional authority granted to state legislators to ensure their
constituents play a meaningful role in selecting the president
("Assembly can't pick which parts of U.S. Constitution it'll follow,"
June 9).
Regardless of party affiliation or political ideology, most Americans are now irrelevant in presidential elections because they don't live in one of the shrinking number of "battleground states" - states currently possessing just 159 electoral votes, down from 319 in 1960.
Under the national popular vote legislation making its way to Gov. Schwarzenegger, every vote in America would be equal, every vote would matter, and the candidate with the most votes would win - the same rules used for every other elective office in the United States.
Bill Shein,director, Presidential Elections Reform Program, FairVote
Takoma Park, Md
Regardless of party affiliation or political ideology, most Americans are now irrelevant in presidential elections because they don't live in one of the shrinking number of "battleground states" - states currently possessing just 159 electoral votes, down from 319 in 1960.
Under the national popular vote legislation making its way to Gov. Schwarzenegger, every vote in America would be equal, every vote would matter, and the candidate with the most votes would win - the same rules used for every other elective office in the United States.
Bill Shein,director, Presidential Elections Reform Program, FairVote
Takoma Park, Md