I saw the article that made it to nationofchange.org. I used to think that the electoral college should be abolished as well. After having served as an election judge in Minnesota through several cycles, I see one major drawback to using the direct popular vote. In a really close election, does anyone want to consider what a nationwide recount would look like? Seriously, I think that is a huge and real potential problem.

Instead, I would like to see the electors to come out of each congressional district. That would limit the scope of recounts and make them manageable. So, what to do with the other two electors per state? Well, the states could decide to award them based on popular vote in the state. That would seem best. Of course in a state like North Dakota, it would essentially still be winner-take-all, but that is a natural outcome of only having one congressional district.

The most distorting thing in our current system is that it is winner-take-all for entire states. That is what should be abolished! Electing the electors out of the congressional districts would make the process much closer to the popular vote and, like the popular vote, require candidates to campaign far more broadly. That would be good for everyone.

Please think more about a possible recount scenario in the case of a direct popular vote. I think it really is a problem that needs to be avoided, while bringing our system closer to that ideal.