Former Massachusetts governor and presidential candidate Michael Dukakis admits that his 1988 election campaign focused mainly on swing states. Dukakis firmly supports the National Popular Vote movement. In his call to eliminate the Electoral College System, Dukakis acknowledges that:

“A big turnout in Massachusetts and many other states is irrelevant to winning the election. Only winning the swing states matters.”

FairVote’s Presidential Election Inequality report proves this sad truth. Election campaigns focus their resources on a dwindling number of battleground states, opting not to waste valuable resources on safe states. As a result, the voters in safe states are largely left out of the campaign process. The winner-take-all system of allocating electors that is used by 48 states means that votes in safe states do not matter. This elicits political apathy among voters and depresses voter turnout.

The National Popular Vote bill will change this unfortunate reality. It guarantees that the winner of the national popular vote wins a majority in the Electoral College and therefore wins the presidency. The bill is up for debate tomorrow, July 9th in the Massachusetts House. A live feed of the assembly can be viewed here.

Other posts by Laura Kirshner

• Shift of fewer than 400,000 votes could have swung the election in McCain’s favor - November 5th, 2008
• 1 in 14 chance that the Electoral College winner will lose the National Popular Vote - September 8th, 2008
• Bi-partisan Panel Signs Joint Resolution for 2012 Primary Reform - August 21st, 2008
• Pushing back the Primaries: Don Means leads the National Caucus for 2012 Reform - August 1st, 2008
• Straight From the Horse’s Mouth: “Only winning the swing states matters” - July 8th, 2008
• The potential for women in the Senate - June 5th, 2008
• Ickes: System is "out of kilter" - August 27th, 2007
• Fix The Primaries in Miami Herald's Opinion Pages - August 15th, 2007
• California still left out of the campaign spotlight - July 30th, 2007
• The Shrinking Battleground: It's Smaller Than You Think - July 23rd, 2007