DENVER-
A House committee on Thursday killed a plan for Colorado to join other states in bypassing the Electoral College and awarding the presidency to the winner of the nationwide popular vote after witnesses warned it was unconstitutional and would result in chaos if a candidate demanded a recount.
The measure (Senate Bill 46) would have set up an agreement with other states in presidential election years to give all of the state’s nine electoral votes to the nationwide winner of the popular vote. The law would have taken effect only if enough states joined in to make it work.
The House State Veterans & Military Affairs Committee killed it on a 10-1 vote.
Backers said the movement is aimed at preventing a repeat of 2000, when Democrat Al Gore lost despite getting more votes than George W. Bush.
Robert Hardaway, a law professor at Denver University, told lawmakers if someone challenged the outcome of a presidential election, every precinct would have to be recounted.
“It would be a disaster,” he said.
John Koza, a Stanford University professor who is promoting the plan, said previously that lawmakers in 47 states had agreed to consider it this year. It was introduced last year in Colorado, Illinois, Louisiana, Missouri, New York and California, but none of the states enacted it.
In presidential elections, voters do not cast ballots directly for a candidate but for slates of electors who in turn elect the president. The system was created by the founding fathers out of a fear of mob rule.
Each state has one elector for every member it has in the House and Senate, a formula that gives small states a somewhat larger vote than population alone would allow.
In most cases, electors are expected to cast their ballots for the candidate who wins the popular vote in their state.
Other attempts to change the Electoral College system have failed, most of them aimed at amending the Constitution, a drawn-out process that requires approval by Congress and ratification by at least 38 states.
If the compact had been in force in 2000, Colorado’s eight electors would have had to support Gore, even though Bush carried the state with 51 percent, compared to 42 percent for Gore, because Gore won the popular vote nationwide.
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