I heard about this on C-SPAN this morning, and I have to say, I wholeheartedly approve:

A proposed ballot initiative would make Colorado the first state in the nation to split Electoral College votes among presidential candidates proportionally based on the statewide popular vote, eliminating the state's winner-take-all system.

If you've hung out here much, you've heard me complain about the stupidity of the Electoral College, and the hypocrisy and inaction of the Democrats, who bitch and moan about Bush stealing the 2000 election, but haven't done a damn substantive thing about changing the system.

Well, it never occurred to me that, like so many other issues (like gay marriage), reform could begin at the State level. I think it's great.

Now there are already two other states who aren't completely all-or-nothing:

Two states, Maine and Nebraska, divide their presidential electoral votes based in part on the popular vote by awarding two electors to the candidate who wins statewide, then allocating the remainder to the winner of each congressional district.

But this system seems a little squirrelly. The notion of dividing the percentage of electoral votes by the percentage of raw votes seems fair and equitable, no?

Well, here's a lame-ass editorial from the Denver Post:

If voters approve a ballot initiative and parcel out our nine votes in November, the state is certain to become politically irrelevant. Reform must be nationwide.

If you thought Colorado was political flyover territory now, imagine what would happen if the state splits up its nine electoral votes.

So let me get this straight...Colorado already doesn't garner attention in Presidential races because of the relatively few number of electoral votes and because it's not a close battleground state. But allocating electoral votes based on who the people actually voted for is going to make candidates pay less attention?

Not to put too fine a point on it...but bullshit. If Kerry can't get any electoral votes in an all-or-nothing race, he's not going to sink any resources into the state. If he can get three or four, he's more likely to do so.

The editorial argues that reform has to be nationwide, or it's useless. Again, bullshit. How feasible is nationwide reform? It would require a Constitutional Amendment, which damn near everyone agrees ain't gonna happen. The bar is much higher to get the system changed at the Federal level. But the Constitution allows enough flexibility for States to allow them to institute a fairer system without the daunting legal grind of amending the Constitution.

I hope it passes, and I hope similar ballot initiatives spring up. If Colorado passes this, it will take effect for the elections this year. Wouldn't it be interesting if the election was won or lost on just a few electoral votes...?