The Republican-American Bay State seeks to thwart voters

The Republican-American Bay State seeks to thwart voters: "In 1972, only 45 percent of Massachusetts voters supported Richard Nixon for president. The Bay State, in fact, was the only state that went for Democrat George McGovern. But Tricky Dick would have been the unanimous choice of the Electoral College if the National Popular Vote law, recently enacted in Massachusetts, had been in effect. Indeed, the law would have overruled Connecticut voters in three of the last 10 presidential elections.

The brainchild of Stanford University professor John Koza, the law requires electors to cast their ballots for the national winner of the popular vote no matter how their states voted. Massachusetts is the sixth state to sign onto this subterfuge, which would go into effect if states with a total of 270 or more electors sign on. A cabal of as few as 11 states could force this upon the rest of America through a de facto constitutional amendment, which ordinarily requires 38 states to ratify.

Mr. Koza and his movement, supported almost exclusively by left-wing ideologues, seeks to 'make every vote count,' force candidates to campaign in every state rather than in just 20-odd 'battleground states' and ensure the winner of the popular vote is elected. He was inspired by the 2000 election in which his candidate, Al Gore, got the most votes but lost in the Electoral College. But Mr. Koza's goals run counter to those of the founders and the Constitution.

The product of deliberative negotiations and judicious compromises, the Electoral College ensures that presidents have national stature and widespread popular support to prevent more populous states from imposing their wills on the smaller ones. In 1888, for example, Grover Cleveland won the popular vote by less than 1 percent, but Benjamin Harrison won an Electoral College landslide, 233 to 168, that reflected his more broad-based support.