Amendment would let voters pick the president by popular vote
S.J.Res. 218 — A joint resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to abolish the electoral college and to provide for the direct election of the President and Vice President of the United States. · Filed by Brian Schatz (D-HI) · 2 cosponsors · Introduced Sep 29, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This joint resolution proposes to change the Constitution. It would end the Electoral College system. Instead, the president and vice president would be chosen by counting all votes nationwide. The pair with the most votes would win. Congress would make rules for tied elections or candidate death.
Who it affects
All voters would be affected. Every vote would count the same no matter what state someone lives in. States would lose power in choosing the president.
One thing to notice
The amendment would need approval from 38 states to pass. Smaller states would have to vote for a change that reduces their power.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
2 cosponsors: 2 Democrats.
- Sep 29, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Sep 29, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on the Judiciary · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- Electoral College — The system where each state picks electors who vote for president.
- amendment — An official change to the Constitution that needs approval from states.
- popular vote — The total number of votes cast by all voters nationwide.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,903 characters) on Oct 3, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Amendment would let voters pick the president by popular vote” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/sjres218/simple Report an error
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