Carter himself proposed a Constitutional amendment that would include the abolition of the electoral college shortly after taking office in 1977. After a direct popular election amendment failed to pass the Senate in 1979 and prominent congressional advocates retired or were defeated in elections, electoral college reform subsided from public attention and the number of reform proposals in Congress dwindled.
Carter suggested an amendment to eliminate the electoral college shortly after his inauguration in 1977. Following a failed direct popular election amendment in 1979 and the departure or defeat of influential congressional advocates, efforts for electoral college reform diminished in public attention, and fewer proposals were introduced in Congress.