"More important,- [Koza] said, "is changing the way presidential campaigns are conducted in this country. Now, the candidates spend almost all of their time in a handful of battleground states like Ohio and Florida and ignore the rest of the country. This would force candidates to campaign nationally for every vote."

Our report, Presidential Election Inequality: The Electoral College in the 21st Century, presents an in-depth analysis of the situation today: a growing divide between "battleground" and "spectator" states with striking implications for voter choice, turnout, the national policy agenda and the differential values of Americans' individual votes.

The L.A. Times offered a great commentary yesterday:

In a previous incarnation, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was a self-described reformer and champion of direct democracy. That worked fine for him one year, but was a disaster the next. Now he gets another crack at shaking things up.

This one is a freebie. No speeches, no signature-collecting, no fundraising required. Just a ballpoint pen.

Among the 500-plus bills sitting on the governor's desk is one that would thrust him to the forefront of a budding national movement to extend direct democracy to presidential elections.

He has 10 days to sign or veto the bill by Assemblyman Tom Umberg (D-Anaheim) that would mark the first step in rendering moot the anachronistic Electoral College. The goal is to assure that the candidate most Americans vote for is elected president.

No more battleground states or spectator states. Every state would be in play. Every vote would count...