NJ backs giving state's electoral votes to popular vote winner
by The Associated Press
Sunday January 13, 2008, 11:08 PM
New Jersey today became the second state to enter a compact that would
eliminate the Electoral College's power to choose a president if
enough states endorse the idea.
Gov. Jon Corzine signed legislation that approves delivering the
state's 15 electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote.
The Assembly approved the bill last month and the Senate followed suit
earlier this month.
Maryland -- with 10 electoral votes -- had been the only state to pass
the compact into law.
The measure could result in the electoral votes going to a candidate
opposed by voters in New Jersey, which has backed Democratic
presidential candidates since 1988. However, the compact would take
effect only if enough states -- those with a majority of votes in the
Electoral College -- agreed to it.
A candidate needs 270 of 538 electoral votes to win.
The compact has also passed both houses of the Illinois Legislature,
according to the National Popular Vote movement, and has been approved
by one legislative house in Arkansas, Colorado and North Carolina.
Governors in California and Hawaii, though, vetoed bills to join the
compact.
The goal is to ensure that the national popular vote winner becomes
president. Democrats who sponsored the bill have noted that their
party's 2000 presidential nominee, Al Gore, won the popular vote that
year but lost in the Electoral College.
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The EC is outdated and needs to be replaced with the popular vote so
that everyone's vote is equal. Right now, a Republican vote in New
Jersey and a Democratic vote in Mississippi are worthless. Popular
makes them count.
Posted by aurora21 on 01/14/08 at 12:00AM
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