DES MOINES, Iowa — Iowa lawmakers are considering changing the way the state's presidential votes are counted as part of a national effort to break from the Electoral College system.
The proposal is moving through the state Senate and so far has generated little opposition.
"This is the real deal," Sen. Pam Jochum, D–Dubuque, said Wednesday.
Jochum is an expert on elections and campaign financing and a leading backer of the effort. The measure also has the backing of Senate Majority Leader Michael Gronstal.
Support for such a move has been building nationally since 2000, when Republican George W. Bush became president despite losing the popular vote to Democrat Al Gore.
But the Electoral College is mandated by the Constitution, and getting around it isn't easy. Although backers of the popular vote could seek to amend the Constitution, many have instead called for the simpler approach being considered by Iowa lawmakers.
That calls for the state to enter into a compact with other states and pledge to direct Iowa's electoral college votes to the winner of the national popular vote, regardless of who wins in Iowa.
"I think there's broad support for the concept that a majority of the people in the country should elect a president," Gronstal said. "This is a mechanism to get there and it doesn't require a constitutional amendment."
Once states representing 270 electoral votes have adopted such a resolution, it would go into force, Gronstal said. At least two states — New Jersey and Maryland — have already entered the compact.
"If states that represent a majority of electoral votes in the country pass this compact, we can get a national popular vote without Congress, without a constitutional amendment, without any of those folks," he said.
It's unclear what kind of impact the measure would have on Iowa, where Democrats have built a voter registration edge of more than 111,000. President Bush carried the state narrowly in 2004, the only time since 1984 the state hasn't gone Democratic.
President Obama handily carried the state last year.
