Nevada's Democratic governor-elect wants to scrap the Electoral College, citing its 'racist underpinnings'

Nevada Gov.-elect Aaron Ford, the Democrat who beat Gov. Joe Lombardo in the Nov. 3 election, says he supports getting rid of the Electoral College, the Washington Examiner reports.

Ford said he once had doubts about the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, which commits member states to give all their electoral votes to whoever wins the national popular vote, but changed his mind after looking into it.

"Understanding the frankly racist underpinnings of it in the first place leads me to believe that we need to get rid of it," Ford told local station KOLO 8. He added that several times "the person who has won the popular vote" has not won "because of the Electoral College."

The compact takes effect only once states with at least 270 electoral votes sign on. So far 18 states and Washington, D.C., have joined, for 222 electoral votes. The Washington Examiner notes that if Nevada (6), Michigan (15), Pennsylvania (19) and Wisconsin (10) all passed laws to join after Democrats' gains in those states, the compact would reach 272. Nevada's Legislature would still have to approve it.

Critics say letting states bind their electors to the national popular vote would go around the Constitution's Electoral College and its amendment process.