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California Sen. Kamala Harris became the latest 2020 presidential candidate to weigh in on whether the United States should get rid of the Electoral College and have presidential elections be determined by the popular vote.

During a Tuesday night appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Harris said she would be "open" to abolishing the Electoral College.

"I'm open to the discussion," she said. "There's no question that the popular vote has been diminished in terms of making the final decision about who's the president of the United States and we need to deal with that. So I'm open to the discussion."

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The debate over the Electoral College intensified in recent days after Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said during a CNN town hall that presidential elections should be decided by popular vote.

"We need to make sure that every vote counts," she said. "The way we can make that happen is that we can have national voting, and that means get rid of the Electoral College, and everybody ... I think everybody ought to have to come and ask for your vote."

Andrew Yang, a Democratic entrepreneur who has seen a recent surge in the 2020 betting odds, disagreed with Warren.

"The problem with deciding Presidential elections via popular vote is that candidates would naturally campaign in urban areas with big media markets and their policies would follow suit," Yang tweeted. "Better to have proportional electoral college votes in each state so you campaign everywhere."

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President Donald Trump, who lost the popular vote by over 2 million votes in 2016, also took to Twitter to defend the Electoral College.

"Campaigning for the Popular Vote is much easier & different than campaigning for the Electoral College. It's like training for the 100 yard dash vs. a marathon," he tweeted. "The brilliance of the Electoral College is that you must go to many States to win. With the Popular Vote, you go to just the large States - the Cities would end up running the Country. Smaller States & the entire Midwest would end up losing all power - & we can't let that happen. I used to like the idea of the Popular Vote, but now realize the Electoral College is far better for the U.S.A."

The Electoral College has become a sore spot for a number of Democratic voters, since the last two Republican presidents — George W. Bush and Donald Trump — were elected after losing the popular vote but winning the Electoral College. Bush did win the popular vote when he was re-elected in 2004.

It would take a constitutional amendment to abolish the Electoral College, meaning it would require a two-thirds majority vote in both chambers of Congress, and ratification by 38 of the 50 states.

Eric Ting is an SFGATE staff writer. Email him at eting@sfchronicle.com and follow him on Twitter

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