<P> Instead of decreasing the power of minority groups by depressing voter turnout, proponents argue that by making the votes of a given state an all - or - nothing affair, minority groups can provide the critical edge that allows a candidate to win . This encourages candidates to court a wide variety of such minorities and advocacy groups . </P> <P> Proponents of the Electoral College see its negative effect on third parties as beneficial . They argue the two party system has provided stability because it encourages a delayed adjustment during times of rapid political and cultural change . They believe it protects the most powerful office in the country from control by what these proponents view as regional minorities until they can moderate their views to win broad, long - term support across the nation . Advocates of a national popular vote for president suggest that this effect would also be true in popular vote elections . Of 918 elections for governor between 1948 and 2009, for example, more than 90% were won by candidates securing more than 50% of the vote, and none have been won with less than 35% of the vote . </P> <P> According to this argument, the fact the Electoral College is made up of real people instead of mere numbers allows for human judgment and flexibility to make a decision, if it happens that a candidate dies or becomes legally disabled around the time of the election . Advocates of the current system argue that human electors would be in a better position to choose a suitable replacement than the general voting public . According to this view, electors could act decisively during the critical time interval between when ballot choices become fixed in state ballots until mid-December when the electors formally cast their ballots . In the election of 1872, losing Liberal Republican candidate Horace Greeley died during this time interval, which resulted in disarray for the Democratic Party, who also supported Greeley, but the Greeley electors were able to split their votes for different alternate candidates . A situation in which the winning candidate died has never happened . In the election of 1912, Vice President Sherman died shortly before the election when it was too late for states to remove his name from their ballots; accordingly, Sherman was listed posthumously, but the eight electoral votes that Sherman would have received were cast instead for Nicholas Murray Butler . </P> <P> Some supporters of the Electoral College note that it isolates the impact of any election fraud, or other such problems, to the state where it occurs . It prevents instances where a party dominant in one state may dishonestly inflate the votes for a candidate and thereby affect the election outcome . For instance, recounts occur only on a state - by - state basis, not nationwide . Results in a single state where the popular vote is very close--such as Florida in 2000--can decide the national election . </P>

Along with washington d.c. from 1992 to 2012 how many states were battleground states