{"article":{"id":3690,"heading":"Twelve Ways to Democratize the U.S. Political System: Second","author":"David Hanks for Global Exchange","created":"2000-09-06 23:14:51","modified":"2005-08-15 00:28:57","last_modified":"Mon, 15 Aug 2005 07:28:57","article":"

2. Abolish the electoral college.

The President is not directly elected by voters, but rather by the Electoral College. Only 26 states require electors to follow the popular vote. Most state constitutions award electoral votes on a winner-take-all basis. For instance, if two-thirds of a state's public vote for a Democrat and the other third votes for a Republican, and the state has 6 electoral votes, then all 6 of that state's votes go to the Democratic candidate. Three times historically, the electoral college elected presidents who ran second in popular votes. This could happen again in a close race. The electoral college should be abolished to allow direct Presidential elections.<\/p>\n","contact":"david@globalexchange.org","link":"www.globalexchange.org\/democracy\/index.html","address":"2017 Mission Street, San Francisco CA 94110","phone":"415-558-9486x237","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","summary":"Twelve Ways to Democratize the U.S. Political System: Second\r\n\r\nAbolish the electoral college.","numcomment":0,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/2000\/09\/directdemocracy.jpg","filesize":"18.9 kibibytes","article_url":"\/news\/2000\/09\/3690.php","image":{"original":"\/uploads\/2000\/09\/directdemocracy.jpg","small":"\/uploads\/2000\/09\/directdemocracy.jpgthumb.jpg"}},"attachments":[],"comments":[]}