Three progressive Democratic senators have unveiled a constitutional modification that goals to abolish the Electoral School, 5 weeks after Donald Trump stormed to victory within the presidential election by sweeping the battleground states.

Brian Schatz of Hawaii, Dick Durbin of Illinois and Peter Welch of Vermont introduced their invoice on Monday, saying it was time to “restore democracy” by putting off the school system altogether and giving primacy to the common vote, the entire variety of ballots forged by the American voters.

“In an election, the one that will get probably the most votes ought to win. It’s that easy,” stated Schatz.

“Nobody’s vote ought to depend for extra primarily based on the place they reside. The Electoral School is outdated and it’s undemocratic. It’s time to finish it.”

Presently, the Electoral School carries the day, an establishment established underneath Article Two of the US Structure that grants every state a given variety of electors in proportion to the dimensions of its congressional delegation. For instance, a populous state like California is price 54 votes however North Dakota simply three.

With 528 Electoral School votes out there in whole, a majority of 270 is required for a candidate to win the White Home.

On November 5, Trump and JD Vance secured a commanding victory of 312 to 226 over their Democratic rivals Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.

Schatz, Durbin and Welch now say they’re involved that in two presidential elections already this century – George W Bush’s win over Al Gore in 2000 and Trump’s over Hillary Clinton in 2016 – Republican candidates have entered the Oval Workplace with out selecting up nearly all of votes forged.

Durbin, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, stated the current system “disenfranchises tens of millions of Individuals.”

“In 2000, earlier than the overall election, I launched a bipartisan decision to amend the Structure and abolish the Electoral School,” he continued.

“I nonetheless consider at present that it’s time to retire this 18th century invention.”

Welch added: “Our democracy is at its strongest when everybody’s voice is heard – and proper now our elections aren’t as consultant as they need to be due to the outdated and flawed Electoral School.”

Their proposal wouldn’t have had any bearing on the end result this 12 months, nonetheless, on condition that Trump and Vance additionally received the favored vote, scoring 77,300,739 ballots to 75,014,534 for Harris and Walz.

However that hole is, comparatively talking, a lot narrower than the 82-point distinction between their respective Electoral School scores.

The lack of the Electoral School – which locations a distorting emphasis on campaigning within the so-called swing states like Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina, Wisconsin and Nevada – would have significantly reshaped the 2024 race and allowed Harris and Walz to lean into shoring up assist in Democratic bastions like New York, Illinois and California.

Their doing so would, in flip, have prompted Trump and Vance to dedicate their energies to massive purple states like Texas, Florida and different southern strongholds.

Democrats like Harris adviser David Plouffe have taken to complaining within the wake of her defeat that it’s changing into more and more tough for his or her presidential candidates to win battleground states due to the battle between the centrist arguments they should make to uncommitted or conservative-leaning voters and the extra progressive insurance policies the occasion’s base expects them to advocate for throughout the primaries.

“It’s at all times price reminding folks: It’s actually laborious for Democrats to win battleground states, OK?” Plouffe instructed Pod Save America final month.

“Let’s take a look at Pennsylvania: 25 p.c of the voters is liberal, roughly, 34 p.c is conservative,” he defined.

“So in each battleground state, there’s extra conservatives than liberals.”