This wretched system, however, is almost impossible to get rid of by the Article V amendment process, because only 13 states can block ratification. One party or another will always be likely to smell disadvantage in the next election from such an amendment, and rustle up enough "no" votes to block it.

The National Popular Vote Initiative aims to circumvent this hurdle through state legislation and what is called an "interstate compact." The NPVI is the brainchild of John R. Koza, a Stanford computer scientist who is also the inventor of the lottery scratch-it.

Here's how it would function: Individual states enact statutes directing their secretaries of state to certify the winner of the national popular vote as the winner of that state's electoral vote, regardless of who won the actual statewide popular vote. The same statute ratifies an interstate "compact" with all other states who have joined the NPVI; under the compact, each state will designate its electoral votes for the popular-vote winner, and no state will withdraw from that commitment less than six months before election day. The compact will only take effect when states representing 270 electoral votes have joined it. Thus, on the day it takes effect, the presidential election will have been transformed: Whoever wins the popular vote nationwide will be guaranteed a winning 270 electoral votes, regardless of what the non-participating states do.

This sounds good; the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Washington, and Vermont have signed on. With California on board, NPVI's compact now covers 132 of the 270 electoral votes it needs. NPVI statutes have also been proposed in Alaska, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia.

The complication is the interstate compact. Article I of the Constitution provides that "no State shall, without the consent of Congress ... enter into any agreement or compact with another state." This would suggest that the NPVI compact couldn't go into effect without Congressional consent. Over time, the Supreme Court has held that not every agreement between states requires congressional authorization -- states can resolve boundary disputes, buy and sell property among themselves, and tackle environmental issues without seeking approval. But agreements that might upset the federal-state balance, or give the compacting states disproportionate power over states not in the compact, usually require some congressional action.

John Koza, the initial designer of NPVI, told me that the organization's position is in the alternative. Reading the key precedents on interstate compacts, he said, NPVI believes that its compact does not require congressional consent. But "as a matter of practical politics," he expects the compacting states to seek congressional authorization if they reach the 270-vote threshold. At that point, he suggests, the measure would have political momentum that would make it hard for Congress to block. NPVI has already begun conversations with lawmakers on the Hill, and has found receptive ears, he said.