Former Iowa Governor Chet Culver has a new title: “co-champion” of the effort to have American presidents elected based on the popular vote.
For several years there’s been a group pushing to bypass the current Electoral College system and ensure the person elected president won the office because they won a majority of the votes cast in the election. As you may recall, that didn’t happen in the 2000 election. Al Gore won more votes, but George W. Bush won the right combination of states and therefore won the presidency by winning the Electoral College.
Former Governor Culver was at a news conference in Washington, D.C. this morning to announce he’s a “co-champion” of the National Popular Vote effort. He was joined by former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson, the actor who ran for president in 2008, and former Illinois Governor Jim Edgar, the other two “co-champions” of the Popular Vote group. Both Thompson and Edgar are Republicans. Culver’s a Democrat.
Seven states have pledged to ensure their representatives in the Electoral College cast their votes for the candidate who won the most votes in all 50 states. Under the current system, an “elector” is obligated to cast his or her vote based on which candidate won their state or, a few cases, their congressional district.