Having passed the Illinois House in a 65 to 50 vote last week, the Illinois Senate is likely to send to the Governor a measure overturning the Electoral College system to elect U.S. presidents. The House vote on HB 858 was along partisan lines, except for one Republican -- State Rep. Paul Froehlich (R-Schaumburg) who sided with the Democrats in changing the electoral system.
Electoral votes are awarded on a winner-take-all basis. That means a candidate getting 51 percent of the popular vote in a state would get 100 percent of the electoral votes.
A candidate who narrowly wins some key states while losing big in other states can wind up carrying the Electoral College, even though most voters backed someone else. That's what happened in 2000, when George Bush won the presidency over Democrat Al Gore.
But there's a nationwide effort to change that by having every state award electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote. The new system would kick in once states representing a majority of electoral votes have approved the plan. |