Is Electoral College sill the best way to go?
Some people are wondering if the candidate that wins the popular vote in the election will win the Electoral College vote. Could we see a repeat of that happened in 2000 with Al Gore and former President George Bush?
“Mitt Romney is doing better nationally than he is doing in some of the swing states,” Mark Jones of Rice University told KTRH. “It’s possible he could eek out narrow popular vote victory but still lose Ohio and not win the Electoral College.”
That possibility has some people are calling for the end to the Electoral College. Pollster Terry Madonna of Franklin & Marshall College says that would be easier said than done.
“There have been hundreds of efforts made to amend the Constitution. None of them successful,’ Madonna explained. So I think we’re probably going to have the same system that we now have for a good bit of time.
Jones agrees with Madonna’s assessment but says the Electoral College is no longer as useful as it once was.
“The Electoral College is clearly an archaic system. We’re the last democracy in the world that uses this format,” Jones said.
Nine states already have adopted the National Popular Vote Bill, which would guarantee the Presidency to the candidate that wins the popular vote. Madonna says a split tonight would help that movement.
“If that would occur, then the Popular Vote Project would have a chance of picking up additional states. And you cannot rule out the possibility that it will be in effect in a Presidential election sometime soon,” Madonna said.
Both Jones Madonna agree that it is unlikely we'll see a split between the popular vote and the Electoral College.
Hear the podcast with Matt Patrick and Houston's Morning News as he talks with Mark Jones:
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