Warren calls for elimination of Electoral College, urges direct election instead

Without the Electoral College, densely populated cities notorious for skewing overwhelmingly Democratic would likely determine the president every four years. After all, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 80 percent of Americans live in urban centers.

That's exactly the vision Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who is running for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, has for America, she admitted Monday.

What are the details?

While participating in a CNN town hall at Jackson State University, Warren revealed she favors eliminating the Electoral College altogether, urging the direct election of president instead.

"Come a general election, presidential candidates don't come to places like Mississippi. They also don't come to places like California or Massachusetts, because we're not the battleground states," Warren told the Mississippi crowd.

"My view is that every vote matters," she continued, the crowd erupting into a thunderous applause, "and the way we can make that happen is that we can have national voting and that means get rid of the Electoral College — and every vote counts."

"I think everybody ought to have to come and ask for your vote," Warren added.

Warren has been critical of the Electoral College before, publicly lamenting that Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 presidential election to Donald Trump despite garnering almost 3 million more votes than Trump. However, Warren's criticism of the constitutional process on Monday was her most pointed yet.

Elizabeth Warren: Get rid of the Electoral Collegewww.youtube.com

Warren, who was asked how she will protect the right to vote if elected president, also called for a constitutional amendment that "protects the right to vote for every American citizen, and to make sure that vote gets counted." She also called for the repeal of "voter suppression" laws.

As history goes, of all constitutional amendments, extending voting rights has been the most central concern.

• The 15th Amendment prohibits race from determining voting eligibility
• The 17th Amendment granted the direct election of senators
• The 19th Amendment extended voting rights to women
• The 23rd Amendment provides the District of Columbia with representation in the Electoral College by way of three votes
• The 24th Amendment prohibits the implementation of poll taxes
• The 26th Amendment lowered the voting age to 18

Warren did not elaborate which "voter suppression" laws need repeal, nor did she explain her reasoning behind the call for another constitutional amendment related to voting.