In the wake of the 2000 election, many state legislatures will be considering proposals to make changes in the methods by which electors are chosen for the Electoral College. Background Since 1970, the League has supported an amendment to the Constitution that would establish a direct, popular vote for the President and vice-president of the United States. Such an amendment would abolish the Electoral College. The League arrived at its position through our time-honored study and consensus process. The President should be directly elected by the people he or she will represent, just as the other federally elected officials are in this country.
Direct election is the most representative system.
It is the only system that guarantees the President will have received the most poplar votes. It also encourages voter participation by giving voters a direct and equal role in the election of the President. The League has acted in support of abolition of the Electoral College for the past three decades, and testified in Congress on this subject as recently as 1997. Election 200 highlighted that the President of the United States is not directly elected by the votes of American citizens, but rather by the states. Though all states now hold a general election for the purpose of selecting their electors in the Electoral College, there is no constitutional requirement that they do so.