Op-Ed: A Fifty State Strategy Every Year
By Birch Bayh
Shortly after the 2004 elections, Chris Bowers of the progressive blog MyDD wrote an optimistic post titled "Fifty State Strategy." In the piece, he expressed relief that in 2006, "there will be no Presidential election, and thus as a party we can return to a truly national focus." It is a shrewd, but telling observation that today more than ever, the Electoral College system is a disservice to voters.
Howard Dean's 'Fifty State Strategy' was controversial enough for a midterm election, as some party leaders feared it would "squander" the resources needed to win seats. Now, throw a presidential race into the mix -- a time when both parties siphon their resources into the handful of battleground states that sway the Electoral College. What good is a fifty state strategy when 60,000 votes in Ohio are more influential than 1.5 million nationwide?
This limited strategy requires that candidates running for the nation's highest office completely ignore three-quarters of the states, including the three most populous: California, Texas, and New York. Democrats and Republicans alike should ask, 'Why are our national leaders elected by only reaching out to a fraction of our states?' It seems inherently illogical, and it is.
The Electoral College has outlived whatever positive role it once played as a choice of convenience and compromise. Long overdue, the President and Vice President should be chosen by the same method every other elective office in this country is filled-by citizen voters of the United States in a system which counts each vote equally.
I have felt this way for some time. 30 years ago last month, I introduced a proposed Amendment to the Constitution to abolish the Electoral College and provide for direct election of the President and Vice President. As Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments, I held hearings, received testimony from 38 witnesses (not to mention hundreds of pages of additional statements and academic studies), and amassed nearly 2,600 pages of research on the need for electoral reform.
To me and others involved with this process, it became clear that while the Founding Founders had incredible wisdom and foresight, they were dealing with a much different society. The Electoral College was designed for the realities of their time, not ours.
The landmass of the country was huge; travel and communication were arduous and primitive; and education was limited at best. Lack of information about possible Presidential candidates among the general public was a very real consideration. Also, there were issues involving slavery. At the time, 90% of the slave population lived in the South. Since the slaves could not vote, the South faced electoral domination from Northern states. While not the first choice of any Founder, the weighted Electoral College system solved these tricky considerations with a compromise which allowed them to complete the monumental task of creating our country's Constitution.
As you know, my proposed Amendment never joined this revered document, and instead became one of the estimated 704 attempts to do away with the Electoral College. Still today, I am even more firmly convinced that some positive action must be taken.
That is why I am currently involved with the campaign to pass National Popular Vote legislation in our country's state capitols. Instead of abolishing the Electoral College, National Popular Vote legislation renders it obsolete. The Constitution provides the states with the power to assign its electors in the manner they see fit. The plan is to adopt legislation in each state that automatically assigns electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote, regardless of the winner in the state.
If enough states were to do this, the winner of the national popular vote will always become president. The state lines that cause votes to be weighed differently will be erased. A Republican vote in Michigan will be as substantial as one in Ohio. A Democratic vote in Florida becomes equal to one in Georgia.
I am posting at Blue Jersey today because National Popular Vote legislation relies on the grassroots. It is a bottom-up strategy, going from state capitols to Washington D.C. In the current state legislative sessions, National Popular Vote bills have 176 sponsors in 46 states. New Jersey is not one of them, which is surprising, given the state's tendency towards progressive policy and recent interest in presidential politics. In the words of former Acting Governor Dick Codey, New Jersey ought to be a "Presidential player" rather than "an ATM machine." While moving the primary up will get you through the half, adopting National Popular Vote legislation will take you to the final buzzer.
And for every other state overlooked as presidential candidates game the Electoral College, a National Popular Vote bill can restore relevance, democracy, and the will of the people. Americans have long desired this reform, as Gallup polls have shown strong public support for direct election of the President for over five decades.
But the most compelling reason for directly electing our president and vice president is one of principle. In the United States every vote must count equally. One person, one vote is more than a clever phrase; it's the cornerstone of justice and equality. In this day and age of computers, television, rapidly available news, and a nationwide public school system, we don't need nameless electors to cast our votes for president. The voters should cast them directly, themselves.
In my view, every presidential election year should have a national focus, but as a former candidate myself, I cannot overlook the tactical considerations needed to win the Electoral College. You can help change that by telling your legislators that our presidents should be elected directly by the people. Ask that they sponsor National Popular Vote legislation. After all, there is no better time for a fifty state strategy than the year in which we elect a president.
The Honorable Birch Bayh served as a United States Senator from Indiana from 1963 to 1981. Of his many achievements, he is the only American since the Founding Fathers to draft more than one Amendment to the Constitution.
