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Jan 23, 2007 10:19 am US/Mountain
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State Senate backs Bypass Of Electoral College
Colorado Would Give All Electoral Votes To National Popular Winner
By Colleen Slevin, AP Writer
DENVER (AP) ―
The state Senate voted along party lines Monday in favor of joining with other states to bypass the Electoral College system and give their electoral votes to the winner of the nationwide popular vote.
Nine states are considering the proposal, which is being promoted by Fair Vote, a national voting reform group, Senate Majority Leader Ken Gordon said.
The agreement would only take effect if the states accounting for the majority of the nation's electoral votes -- 270 of the nation's 538 total electoral votes -- agree to participate.
Gordon, D-Denver, said the proposal would require presidential candidates to work harder across the country to be elected. Right now, he said only about five states matter in presidential races. In the last election he said 76 percent of the money from the presidential campaigns was spent in Florida, Ohio, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Iowa.
"It makes every person's vote, every human being's vote, equal," Gordon said.
Sen. Greg Brophy, R-Wray, said he wondered if the proposal was a "temper tantrum" over the 2000 election, when President Bush was elected with a majority of the electoral votes but not the popular vote.
Gordon said it wasn't a partisan issue.
"It could just as easily be a Democrat elected that way and that shouldn't happen either," Gordon said after the debate.
Sen. Shawn Mitchell, R-Broomfield, said the proposal would wrongly let a larger, national tally of votes choose who Colorado votes for. With the election riding on the results of votes in so many states, he said recounts could delay the results for days or weeks.
"Florida was nothing, Florida was a pop gun compared with the nuclear explosion, the nuclear winter this would create," Mitchell said.
The California Legislature approved a measure last year that was vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. At least 29 states have sponsors for similar measures.
Senators voted 20-15 to reject Mitchell's push to ask Colorado voters first. All Democrats voted against the measure and Mitchell said he would still vote against the measure if it was sent to voters first.
(© 2007 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)