This was mentioned in an election diary yesterday, but I thought it deserved its own post: California has joined the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact! This is a compact that will go into effect if states representing at least 270 electoral votes represent it. It will ensure that the winner of the national popular vote becomes president, by allocating ALL (>270) electoral votes of the participating states to that winner.
I think this is a great step towards a more equal system of elections. In the current system of course, there is hardly any point in voting if you happen to live in California or Texas.
The compact is now halfway to getting implemented: already, states representing 132 electoral votes have signed up for it. While it seems unlikely that this compact will be in effect for the 2012 election (enough additional states would have to sign up before July 2012), at the current rate of progress, this might very well be the way that the 2016 election gets decided.
For more details, see the Wikipedia page linked above. I'm sure not everyone will be enchanted by this compact: please discuss.