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A President Elected by Popular Vote?

Some progress is made on a presidential election compact to where every vote would count.
August 22, 2008  |  
 
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In this year's presidential primary, 1.7 million Massachusetts voters cast a ballot. That's over a million more than the number that voted in the 2004 primary.

Such an increase in turnout is unprecedented in the state, and similar increases took place in states throughout the country. What made for such a jaw-dropping surge in democratic participation? The answer is simple: people in every state felt their voices mattered. Wouldn't it be great if Massachusetts voters felt that way in November as well?

Sadly, they won't because we live in a country with an electoral process that ignores Massachusetts and its voter turnout, and instead delegates the selection of the president to the voters who turn out in just one or two so-called "battleground" states. Massachusetts is just a "spectator" state, which is why you won't see any presidential candidates campaigning here anytime soon.

Christian Smith-Socaris is the senior election reform policy specialist with the Progressive States Network, a national organization that works to implement policies to advance the interests of working families in all 50 states.

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