(REAL CLEAR POLITICS) — Can you imagine a presidential election without battleground states?
That could be the future as momentum builds for reforming the way states allocate their Electoral College votes through the national popular vote.
Influential 2020 candidates Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are calling for the constitutionally mandated Electoral College, with its indirect method of voting, to be abolished. Meanwhile, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is all a-Twitter, calling the Electoral College a “scam” and saying it has a “racial injustice breakdown.” (Whatever that means.)
Then, there is the overarching question: Would such a monumental change favor one party over the other? The answer cuts both ways. But the good news for Democratic voters in states with a solid red history and Republican voters in states with a solid blue history is that their presidential vote would no longer be wasted. Turnout would increase as, for example, Republicans in California and other deeply blue states would have a reason to vote. Today, the sad fact is that voters in 34 out of 50 states already know the party of the presidential nominee who will win their state.
