End the Electoral College - John Koza

Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2008/10/24/The_Electoral_College_and_National_Popular_Vote

Stanford University computer scientist John Koza explains the National Popular Vote Bill, a plan that, if enacted, would effectively circumvent the role of the Electoral College in determining the President of the United States.

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The Electoral College was developed by our founding fathers and enshrined in the Constitution as a system of checks and balances to ensure a fair outcome in the choosing of our presidents.

However, the highly publicized 2000 presidential election, in which Al Gore may have won the popular vote but lost the contest to George W. Bush, galvanized those who wish to see the Electoral College scrapped in favor of a national popular vote.

Come hear our panel of distinguished experts discuss the merits and pitfalls of the two systems, and the wisdom of moving from a tried and true process to something new - The Commonwealth Club of California

John R. Koza received his Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Michigan in 1972. He published a board game involving Electoral College strategy in 1966. From 1973 through 1987, he was co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Scientific Games Inc. where he co-invented the rub-off instant lottery ticket used by state lotteries. In the 1980s, he and attorney Barry Fadem were active in promoting adoption of lotteries by various states through the citizen-initiative process and state legislative action. He has taught a course on genetic algorithms and genetic programming at Stanford University since 1988. He is currently a consulting professor in the Biomedical Informatics Program in the Department of Medicine and in the Department of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University. He is co-author of the book Every Vote Equal: A State-Based Plan for Electing the President by National Popular Vote with Barry Fadem, Mark Grueskin, Michael S. Mandell, Robert Richie, and Joseph F. Zimmerman.

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[NitPickyWorryWart]

Use your heads for something besides a hat-rack, folks!! 80.8% of the US pop is in the cities and suburbs. National Popular Vote would allow 6 states (CA, TX, NY, FL, IL, PA) to decide ALL presidential elections, the other 44 states be damned. Those 6 have 123 MILLION population & at 60% voting, more than enough to carry ANY election. THAT'S FAIR?? Under Electoral College they have 189 EC votes (70% needed). Under EC smaller states at least have a chance their voices will be heard. KEEP THE EC!

[sugarpuddin88]

Gimme a Break

Clinton & Dole instituted a policy in 1994 to keep independents out

The USA has one more choice than the old Communist Soviet Union!

[folladordeprostis]

@WilliamHCarney Neo-cons don't want to abolish electoral college

[folladordeprostis]

Neo-cons don't want to abolish electoral college,they will riot on the streets,they say is the american way,other way ir would be "socialism"

[folladordeprostis]

bush jr 47.9%

al gore 48.4% winner bush jr,that makes any sense??? that is why the rest of the world makes fun of usa democracy..........

[ImDavidGurney]

The Electoral College discriminates against WHITE people.Were it to be abolished,we could run several bogus minority candidates to divide the vote,letting a David Duke win.

[WilliamHCarney]

About fucking time. We should've had a popular vote take all years ago.

[KripDrip]

Its not fair that with the electoral college, someone elses vote in a smaller state will count more than mine. Wouldnt it be better if each persons vote counted equally?

[radomu1]

You must destroy the electoral college to move the United States onto a true democracy. When you have unelected (by the people) sponges under Party conventions voting for the President without any regard for the will of the people, it creates a monopoly between Democrats and Republicans.

We have people whining that the big States will dominate the election, but that IS fair. Why? Because every person must be equally represented and not the state. It's just stupidly obvious.

[DenaInWyo]

soooo..we are afraid that all the people in certain states will decide the vote? What about people living in states where they are the minority? Our votes don't count. Not even worth taking the time to go to the polls. Why not stop dividing us up by states and just start deciding by One Country's choice?

[ThunderAppeal]

@tatomuck18 In 2000 you werent even old enough to vote you little stupid snot nosed twit. Youre just carrying water for something you dont know anything about you stupid little jackass. 'Over half a million' you dont know the facts you stupid little shit.