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From 1788 to 1824, most states had their legislatures choose the members of the Electoral College. Those states that permitted voters to choose the Electors generally used the formula you have suggested. The election of 1824 was the last one where the legislatures chose Electors -- primarily because that election ended up in the House for a decision, and the House chose someone who did not have a plurality of either popular votes or electoral votes.

The two-party system as we know it today first came into being in the election of 1828. From then forward, states moved away from your formula to the winner-take-all formula we know today.

After the close call in 1968 where the election almost ended up in the House, Senators Everett Dirksen of Illinois and Karl Mundt of South Dakota -- both Republicans -- proposed a constitutional amendment that would have mandated your congressional district formula upon the states. Interest was high for a time but flagged in the mid-Seventies when a competing amendment was introduced that would have instituted true popular elections for president. Neither amendment got through Congress.

Maine and Nebraska have taken a good step toward electoral reform. I'd like to see the idea spread further.

Kalifornia should choose their electional votes by individual congressional districts. Right now, just about everyone on the coast votes solid 'RAT and the rest of the state votes strongly GOP, but the coast always managed to dictate where the state falls because they have a higher population.

Either that or split Kalifornia into two states. We could have a new state called "Sierra" which would be almost as large as the "old" California, but provide at least a dozen Republican electors.