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Group Against Electoral College Targets McConnell in New Ad

A group that supports using the popular vote over the Electoral College to elect the President of the United States has launched ads in Kentucky criticizing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., for opposing the idea.Calling Kentucky a "fly over state" in presidential races, Support Popular Vote's 30-second commercial began airing on Tuesday. It urges residents to pressure McConnell on supporting legislation that would replace the 538 electors with a national popular vote system. The Republican leader has called the popular vote picking the president a "dangerous and absurd" idea that would produce a "catastrophic outcome."Check it out:Under the U.S. Constitution, the Electoral College formally elects the president and vice president as opposed to a direct vote by citizens. At least four times in American history has the candidate with the most popular votes not been elected president and reformers have been calling for an amendment to change the process.Local supporters of the group highlight polling that shows 80 percent of Kentucky voters support the effort to make every vote count equally in presidential elections. The ad comes out as the General Assembly begins debating the National Popular Vote Bill, which was introduced by state Rep. Ruth Ann Palumbo, D-Lexington, this year.The group also points out that reforms to the system have received bi-partisan support and that eight states and Washington, D.C. have passed the National Popular Vote plan.