WASHINGTON — In a time-honored ritual, members of Congress today read off the tally of Electoral College votes from their states and officially declared Barack Obama president of the United States. The outcome, never in doubt, of course, was 365 votes for Obama and 173 for John McCain.

But at the same time as the House and Senate came together in this centuries-old tradition to count electoral votes, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson filed a proposed constitutional amendment to abolish the Electoral College. According to Nelson, the system is outdated and he wants Americans to be able to choose their president by direct popular vote.

His principal argument for getting rid of the Electoral College is the system permits a candidate with fewer votes nationally to win the presidency by capturing narrow victories in big states.

But at the same time as the House and Senate came together in this centuries-old tradition to count electoral votes, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson filed a proposed constitutional amendment to abolish the Electoral College. According to Nelson, the system is outdated and he wants Americans to be able to choose their president by direct popular vote.

"It's only been a few times in our history, most recently in the 2000 election, that the candidate who lost the popular vote won the Electoral College and became president — but, that shouldn't be allowed to happen again," Nelson said. "We need to honor the concept of one person, one vote."

In 2000, George W. Bush actually lost the nationwide popular election to Al Gore by nearly 544,000 votes, yet won the presidency in a Supreme Court showdown over Florida's Electoral College votes that hinged on far fewer disputed state ballots.

Following that election, there was talk in Congress about introducing an amendment to abolish the Electoral College. But a deeply partisan atmosphere blocked any such action.

Then, following a dispute last year over whether to count Florida's presidential primary, Nelson filed a broader package of reforms to change national voting procedures, including proposals to abolish the Electoral College in favor of direct popular election of the president and to allow voters, not party bosses, to select presidential candidates.

Because this is a new session of Congress, a senator is required to reintroduce any pending measures if he still wants lawmakers to consider them. Nelson filed the Electoral College measure Thursday, and said he'll file his other election reforms early in the new Congress. Following is the text of Nelson's measure:

"Abolish the Electoral College: A resolution for a constitutional amendment will be filed to abolish the Electoral College and allow direct election of the president by popular vote. If the principle of one person, one vote is to mean anything, the candidate who wins a majority of the votes should win the presidency."

The measure already has the support of various voting rights advocates. The next step in the process, Nelson said, is to gain support from enough lawmakers.