[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 3 (Thursday, January 8, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S229-S235]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. NELSON of Florida:
  S.J. Res. 4. A joint resolution proposing an amendment to the 
Constitution of the United States to abolish the electoral college and 
to provide for the direct popular election of the President and Vice 
President of the United States; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, earlier today, the Congress met 
in a joint session, as it does every 4 years in early January, to 
conduct the official count of the electoral ballots from the States. 
Most Americans pay no attention to this ritual, believing that 
presidential elections in this country get decided on Election Day. But 
it is the votes of the Electoral College, presented by each State to 
the Congress, that determine who our next President and Vice President 
are going to be. We are the beacon of democracy in the world, and yet, 
voters in this country do not have the opportunity to elect their 
leaders directly.
  Today, I am introducing a constitutional amendment to abolish the 
Electoral College to allow direct election of the President by popular 
vote. If the principle of one person, one vote is to mean anything, it 
is that the candidate who wins a majority of the votes wins the 
Presidency, and votes for every candidate from every State should 
count.
  On only a few occasions in our history, the candidate who lost the 
popular vote won the Electoral College and became president. In 2000, 
George W. Bush actually lost the nationwide popular election to Al Gore 
by nearly 544,000 votes, yet won the presidency in a Supreme Court 
showdown over Florida's Electoral College votes that hinged on far 
fewer disputed State ballots. That dispute undermined Americans' 
confidence in our democracy and should not be allowed to happen again.
  In addition, the Electoral College skews the way candidates for 
president campaign, causing them to focus only on contested 
``battleground States''. As the Miami Herald recognized in an editorial 
published the day after the 2008 election, the Electoral College is a 
``horse-and-buggy-era political contraption,'' which effectively shuts 
out the majority of Americans--those who don't live in one of the key 
battleground States--from any meaningful participation in the selection 
of our President.
  A recently released study by FairVote, the Center for Voting and 
Democracy, documents just how lopsided the Electoral College has made 
presidential elections: more than 98 percent of all campaign events and 
more than 98 percent of all campaign spending occurred in 15 large and 
small battleground States representing 36.6 percent of the Nation's 
eligible voter population. Of the 300 campaign events by the major 
presidential candidates held between September 5 and November 4, 2008, 
fully 57 percent of these events took place in four States--Ohio, 
Florida, Pennsylvania, and Virginia--representing just 17 percent of 
the Nation's eligible voters. Voter turnout was 67 percent in the 15 
battleground States and only 61 percent in the remaining 35 States.
  The simple and straightforward constitutional amendment simply 
provides for the direct election of the President and Vice President, 
based on the national popular vote from the 50 States, the U.S. 
territories, and the District of Columbia.
  The proposed amendment also confirms--consistent with the vision of 
the Framers--that it is within Congress's power to set the time, place 
and manner--as well as other key criteria--for holding Federal 
elections. Unlike some proposed constitutional amendments that have 
been introduced in the past, my proposal does not delve into additional 
detail by specifying the qualifications for voters or by imposing a 
majority requirement for an election, leaving those issues for the 
Congress to address through the legislative process. Rather, the 
amendment keeps the focus where it belongs--on enshrining in our 
Constitution the principle of one person, one vote, in the election of 
our President.
  I first introduced this constitutional amendment during the previous 
Congress, as part of a broader package of reforms that also included 
measures to make it easier to vote, for example, by encouraging early 
voting or no-fault absentee voting; to ensure that there is a 
verifiable paper ballot so that every vote cast gets counted; and to 
allow voters, not party bosses, to select presidential candidates. I 
plan to file these other election reforms early in this Congress.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the joint 
resolution be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the joint resolution was 
ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows:

                              S.J. Res. 4

       Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
     United States of America in Congress assembled, That the 
     following article is proposed as an amendment to the 
     Constitution of the United States, which shall be

[[Page S235]]

     valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution 
     when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the 
     several States within seven years after the date of its 
     submission by the Congress:

                              ``Article--

       ``Section 1. The President and Vice President shall be 
     jointly elected by the direct vote of the qualified electors 
     of the several States and territories and the District 
     constituting the seat of Government of the United States. The 
     electors in each State, territory, and the District 
     constituting the seat of Government of the United States 
     shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the 
     most numerous branch of the legislative body where they 
     reside.
       ``Section 2. Congress may determine the time, place, and 
     manner of holding the election, the entitlement to inclusion 
     on the ballot, and the manner in which the results of the 
     election shall be ascertained and declared.''.

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