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Computer scientist John Koza of Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, a pioneer of "genetic programming," made his mark in the wider world by inventing the scratch-off lottery ticket. Last week, Maryland became the first state to endorse Koza's latest idea: overriding the electoral college that chooses U.S. presidents.

    CREDIT: ERIC SLOMANSON/SLOMOPHOTOS.COM

Koza first took an interest in elections in 1966 as a grad student, selling a board game based on the electoral college. That system, which aggregates the popular vote into state-based "electoral votes" and awards each state bloc to the candidate who wins the most votes in that state, can elect a president who may not have won the most votes in the nation. In 2000, Al Gore became the fourth presidential candidate to win the popular vote but lose the election.

In 2004, Koza--who views the current system as unfair--teamed up with the non-profit FairVote to lobby state legislatures to allocate their electoral votes to the national winner of the popular vote. The scheme would go into effect only if enough states sign on, at which point the electoral college would become meaningless. Last week, Maryland's governor signed a law adopting the proposal, which is under consideration in 40 other states. Koza is optimistic that the movement will now take off: "The biggest single question we've gotten has been who else has done this."