The movement to junk the Electoral College and choose a president by a nationwide popular vote has come to Mississippi.

Legislation has been filed here and in 46 other states this year to award a state's electoral votes to the candidate who wins the popular vote nationally.

Sen. Gloria Williamson, D-Philadelphia, filed the bill here. She said the effort, led by the National Popular Vote, is aimed at preventing a repeat of 2000, when Democrat Al Gore lost the electoral vote and, ultimately, the presidential race, despite getting more individual votes than Republican George W. Bush.

"I think we should rethink the way we elect our president," said Williamson, who chaired the state Democratic Party in the late 1990s until mid-2000.

Marty Wiseman, director of the Stennis Institute for Government at Mississippi State University, said the 2000 election "gave us all the research we would ever need on whether the Electoral College was still relevant."

"Being from a state where electoral votes are worth more than your popular vote, I don't know why Mississippi would be enamored at this thing," Wiseman said of the proposed change.

Legislation was introduced last year in Colorado, Illinois, Louisiana, Missouri, New York and California. The California Legislature approved the measure, only to have Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger veto it.

It takes 270 electoral votes to be elected president. Carry the right

13 states, Williamson said, and the election is over.

"If they concentrate on getting those 13 states only, those 13 are going to control who is going to be president of the United States because they can," said Williamson.

"If you look at that as a voter in Mississippi, you're not going to be courted. You're not going to be courted if you're from Vermont.

You're not going to be courted if you're from some of the very small states."

In presidential elections, people are not voting directly for a candidate. Instead, under a system created by the founding fathers out of a fear of mob rule, voters choose slates of "electors," who generally are expected to cast their ballots for the winner of their state's popular vote.

Each state has one elector for each member it has in the U.S. House and Senate. Mississippi has six electoral votes.

The National Popular Vote plan centers on an agreement among the states. It would not take effect unless adopted by state legislatures representing a majority of electoral votes.

Backers say the current system encourages candidates to focus on a few contested "battleground" states _ Ohio and Florida, for example _ and exaggerates the significance of issues important there.

Opponents say in a close presidential election, recounts would be demanded in every precinct. They also say the proposal would reduce the influence of small states and lead candidates to spend more time campaigning in populous states.

Williamson is undeterred.

"Not that I expect it to pass," she said. "But maybe it will start drawing some attention and get people to thinking."

Had the compact been in force in 2000, Mississippi's seven electors _ the state lost an Electoral College vote in 2002 when it lost a U.S.

House seat _ would have had to support Gore, even though Bush carried the state. Jimmy Carter, a former Georgia governor, was the last Democrat to claim Mississippi's electoral votes for president. That was in 1976.

Williamson said the Electoral College is not a workable system.

"I am one of the ones who thinks the president should represent all the people, not those in 13 states," she said.