We've seen in recent weeks the quadrennial year complaints about the disproportionate effects that a handful of states like Iowa and New Hampshire have on the nominating process, but that is just a shadow of the far larger distortion of our democracy due to the Electoral College.  

It's not just that the candidate who has won the popular vote can lose the Presidency. As this Stateside Dispatch will emphasize, the distortions in our political life, particularly to debates around civil rights, due to the Electoral College are even more profound. Every Presidential election year is warped by the disproportionate attention to a few "swing" states even as most states and their concerns are ignored by the candidates, leading to depressed turnout by many voters in less competitive states.

But ending the anachronism of the Electoral College is moving forward in the states. Earlier this month, New Jersey Governor John Corzine signed a bill, S2695/A4225, making New Jersey the second state after Maryland to adopt the National Popular Vote interstate compact, an agreement to allocate the state's Presidential electors to whoever wins the popular vote nationally once a sufficient number of states adopt the compact.   The Illinois legislature also approved National Popular Vote this month and the bill awaits the governor's signature.

Along with both chambers in New Jersey, Maryland and Illinois, seven other legislative chambers have adopted National Popular Vote, including Arkansas House, California Senate, California Assembly, Colorado Senate, Hawaii House, Hawaii Senate, and the North Carolina Senate. In fact, 391 state legislators in 47 states have sponsored National Popular Vote legislation, so many other states are considering the reform this year. Given the overwhelming 70% plus support in polls for having the President elected by a majority of the nation's votes, this is welcome progress.