Senate Democrats Brian Schatz (HI), Dick Durbin (IL), and Peter Welch (VT) introduced a bill to abolish the Electoral College.
Schatz said of the bill, “In an election, the person who gets the most votes should win. It’s that simple. No one’s vote should count for more based on where they live. The Electoral College is outdated and it’s undemocratic. It’s time to end it.”
Durbin said in a statement, “In 2000, before the general election, I introduced a bipartisan resolution to amend the Constitution and abolish the Electoral College. I still believe today that it is time to retire this 18th century invention that disenfranchises millions of Americans. The American people deserve to choose all their leaders, and I am proud to support this effort with Senators Schatz and Welch to empower voters.”
He emphasized that the bill is “needed today.”
Welch claimed that “right now our elections aren’t as representative as they should be because of the outdated and flawed electoral college…”
According to a press release, the constitutional amendment would “provide for the direct election of the President and Vice President of the United States by a popular vote among voters in each state and the District of Columbia.” It noted that seventeen states and the District of Columbia have joined a national effort to “bypass the Electoral College by agreeing to allocate its electoral votes to whichever candidate wins the nationwide popular vote.”
Popular vote winners have only lost the Electoral College vote five times: 1824, 1876, 1888, 2000, and 2016.
