In 1969, Democrats and Republicans united to get rid of the electoral college. Here's what happened.

Although Nixon supported an amendment crafted by the American Bar Assn. that called for electing the president by popular vote, he also offered his own proposal to permit the election of a president by a plurality of 40% of the electoral vote, instead of an absolute majority. If no candidate received 40%, then a runoff would occur.

Ultimately, the plurality proposal Nixon supported did come to a vote on the floor of the House. It passed overwhelmingly in September 1969.

But hope for a change to the electoral college quickly faded.

Mark Weston, a historian of the electoral college and author of the “The Runner-Up Presidency,” said the amendment was filibustered and finally killed in the Senate by a group of Southern senators concerned that states with large populations would dominate elections.