Electoral Change Proposed

On Feb. 26, the committee approved House Bill 33 for introduction on the House floor by a 14 to 10 vote, with all of the committee's Democrats endorsing the measure and all the Republicans opposing it.

The bill will call for North Carolina to replace its current winner-take-all presidential electoral system with a system, similar to the one used in Maine, that is based on district results.

The new system would give presidential candidates one elector for each congressional district they win in the state. Two additional electors would be given based on the overall statewide vote.

Rep. Wayne Goodwin, D-Richmond, is the bill's sponsor.

Goodwin said presidential candidate Al Gore would have won at least three electoral votes in the state under the proposed system, possibly changing the outcome of the 2000 election.

But Goodwin -- a Democrat -- said he proposed the bill for the good of the state's voters. "(The new system) better reflects the intent of the voting public in North Carolina," he said.

Goodwin said the system would re-enfranchise voters and make presidential candidates take campaigning in North Carolina more seriously.

Election law reform bills often have polarized the two parties in the past, and Goodwin admitted his bill would face a lot of opposition, primarily, he expected, from Republicans.

"It's not a partisan bill," he said. "But it's being treated by the GOP as a partisan bill."

But Republicans disagree.

Rep. Michael Decker, R-Forsyth, said restructuring would only create more problems, such as third-party candidates taking away vital electoral votes from actual contenders.

"The Democrats are opening a real can of worms," he said.

But while most Republicans oppose the bill, they realize it could pass.

"It would be a close vote," Mia Morris, R-Cumberland said. "It could go either way."

Rob Richie, executive director of The Center for Voting and Democracy, a Washington, D.C., group that compiles voting statistics and examines voting procedures, said restructuring is inefficient and would still leave some of the state's districts weak.

"It would create a lot of districts that won't be competitive," he said.

And while Richie said the current Electoral College is inefficient and needs to be reformed, he also said a district system is not a valid alternative.

"The status quo has some serious problems," Richie said. "(But) going to a district system, state by state, is worse than the status quo."

The State & National Editor can be reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.