Senator readying proposed constitutional amendment that would end the Electoral College – Washington Examiner

Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz is set to introduce a constitutional amendment that would abolish the Electoral College in favor of electing presidents by popular vote.

The Hawaii senator’s proposal will reportedly be supported by fellow Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, as well as two senior members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Dick Durban, D-Ill., and Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif.

Schatz teased the amendment on Twitter Monday, retweeting a tweet from an NBC News reporter that read: “Coming soon: Brian Schatz and a group of other senators will introduce a constitutional amendment to abolish the Electoral College, per spox. Not going to become law anytime soon, but will boost this issue and help ensure it stays in convo.”

He also retweeted a 2012 post from President Trump, which read: “The electoral college is a disaster for a democracy.”

Trump used to be in favor of ending the system but has since changed his mind, noting that the Electoral College allows states with smaller populations to be more equally represented. Trump lost the popular vote in the 2016 presidential election but won the Electoral College.

The push to change the way that presidents are elected comes as a number of Democratic presidential candidates continue to discuss the idea. Candidates including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg have expressed support for abolishing the Electoral College system altogether. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., said she was also “ open to the discussion” about ending the Electoral College.

Another Democratic presidential candidate and former Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas has said he is interested in changing the system to a proportional allocation of electors, as Maine and Nebraska currently do.

“What if in every state, those electors that are selected through our national elections are selected proportionate to the popular vote in the state. In other words, no state would have a winner-take-all system,” O’Rourke said of the idea.

As Schatz noted, enacting the Electoral College amendment faces long odds. In addition to needing two-thirds majorities in the House and Senate, three-quarters of the states would have ratify.