By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

The state Legislature is poised to give final approval this week to a new law intended to bypass the Electoral College system and ensure that the winner of the presidential election is determined by the national popular vote.

Both the House and Senate have approved the National Popular Vote bill. Final enactment votes are needed in both chambers, however, before the bill goes to the governor's desk, the Globe reported last week.

Governor Deval Patrick's press office didn't immediately return a message this morning seeking comment on whether he would sign the bill, if it makes its way to his desk.
Under the proposed law, all 12 of the state's electoral votes would be awarded to the candidate who receives the most votes nationally.

Supporters are waging a state-by-state campaign to try to get such bills enacted. Once states possessing a majority of the electoral votes (or 270 of 538) have enacted the laws, the candidate winning the most votes nationally would be assured a majority of the Electoral College votes, no matter how the other states vote and how their electoral votes are distributed.

Illinois, New Jersey, Hawaii, Maryland, and Washington have already adopted the legislation, according to the National Popular Vote campaign's website.

Supporters of the change say that the current Electoral College system is confusing and causes candidates to focus unduly on a handful of battleground states.

Critics say the current system is not broken. They also point to the disturbing scenario that Candidate X wins nationally, but Candidate Y has won in Massachusetts. In that case, all of the state's 12 electoral votes would go to Candidate X, the candidate who was not supported by Massachusetts voters.

The measure passed both branches of the Legislature in 2008 but did not make it all the way through the process.

Each state shall appoint, in such manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States, shall be appointed an elector.

The only way I support the continuation of the electoral college as a deciding factor is if all fifty states are forced to split their electoral votes evenly among the percentage breakdown of their state's popular votes.

Otherwise, as has been pointed out, states with small populations might never vote the way their populations want them to.

The Electoral College isn't a deciding factor. It is the actual method of choosing the President of the United States. Popular voting for the office of President remains and should remain a courtesy, if it is allowed at all in any given state.

I believe the electoral college should be abolished. Barring that, I believe that college votes should be mandatorily split by percentages to reflect the state's popular vote.

I firmly believe that's a bad idea. In fact, I think it's a horrible idea, as the democratization of America has proven a net negative for the management of the country, individual liberties, and protection from both Federal and State governments.

Correlation != causation.

I know you believe that. And while anyone of above-average intelligence is constantly frustrated by the choices of lower-intelligence beings affecting his or her life, I don't believe that's how the country should operate.

I don't see how it's justifiable. It's also far too open for abuse: there'll always be the desire to constantly narrow the rights of the people who cast votes with which you disagree.

The only viable way to handle it, I believe, is as we have: to open it up completely. Free market democracy, as it were. You pays your money and you takes your chances.

And? What's wrong with that?

California: 36,961,644
Texas: 24,782,302
New York: 19,541,453
Florida: 18,537,969
Illinois: 12,910,409
Pennsylvania: 12,604,767
Ohio: 11,542,645
Michigan: 9,969,727
Georgia: 9,829,211
North Carolina: 9,380,884

50% of the nation's total population lives in the 10 most populous states.

I'm in favor of the electoral college system. Parity for the states would be nonexistent without it.

.

This but it needs to be changed, the electoral vote for a district need to voted the way the district voted. The Senate level votes should be based on the way the state voted. This would have the biggest impact on affecting balanced representation in the republic.
The reasons for the electoral college are very clear.

And most of those states are deeply blue.

And generally pick up the tab on the red states, too.

We should be working on expanding voting rights and opportunity, not contracting it, in my opinion. Any person living under the law of a nation has a right to an equal say in the who represents them via their vote. At least, that's how I see it.

Lenas - lrn2grammar. srsly. It's "Democratic" party, not "Democrat" party.