In 2000, then Vice President Al Gore (D) won the popular national vote for president, but lost the White House to Texas Gov. George W. Bush (R), who won 271 electoral college votes, one more than he needed to become President.
Since Bush v. Gore, the 2000 Supreme Court case which led to Bush gaining Florida's contested 25 electoral college votes, activists have called for an overhaul of the electoral college system. The Center for American Progress Action Fund examined one such reform: the National Popular Vote compact.
Under the compact approach, all of an individual state's electoral votes would go to the candidate who wins the popular vote in all fifty states and the District of Columbia.
John Koza, chairman of National Popular Vote Inc., argued for support of the compact. John Samples, director of the Cato Institute's Center for Responsive Government, argued that the new system would disadvantage citizens living in states with small populations.
Tara McGuiness, executive director of the Center for American Progress Action Fund, moderated the discussion.