JOHN W. DEAN The Effort to Change California Election Law, Through an Initiative, to Help the GOP: Why Democrats Should Not Only Fight It, But Also Push For a National Popular Vote Plan FindLaw columnist and former counsel to the President John Dean discusses the political fight over a California initiative that would change California's system for the allocation of electoral votes. More specifically, if the initiative were to pass, electoral votes would be allocated based on the proportion of votes each presidential candidate receives, rather than according to the current winner-take-all system. Since only two other states have taken this approach, Dean believes this is merely a ploy to get more Republican electoral votes for California, while allowing Republicans still to gain votes from other, winner-take-all Republican-dominated states. He contends that while opposing the initiative, Democrats should also advocate for another proposal, which would ensure that the presidential election result matches the national popular vote, as it failed to do in 2000.