On Thursday, in a 21-12 vote, the New Jersey State Senate adopted legislation that would grant the state's 15 Electoral College votes to the presidential candidate who wins the national popular vote, rather than the candidate who carries the state. The bill, which was approved by the Assembly 43-32 last month, will now go to Governor Jon Corzine's desk for approval.
This is a major step forward in the battle to bring fairness and true democracy to our outdated electoral process. More states are realizing that a one-person one-vote system is in the best interest of our country and will help revitalize our democracy.
The bottom line is,. the national popular vote movement is a sorely needed antidote to the current two-tiered system of "swing" and "spectator" states. In 2004, presidential candidates devoted 75 percent of their peak season spending to just five states. A national popular vote is the only way to make sure that a few hundred thousand voters don't get to monopolize national politics.
Under the plan, each state would use their constitutionally granted discretion over the apportionment of their electoral votes to pledge their votes to the nation's top vote getter. The plan would go in to effect once enough states had signed on to give the national popular vote winner a 270 vote majority in the Electoral College.
National popular vote legislation has already been passed in Maryland, and similar measures have been passed by legislative bodies in six other states, including Arkansas, Illinois, Colorado, California, and North Carolina. Furthermore, over 72 percent of Americans support replacing the Electoral College with a national popular vote.