Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) introduced a bill on Friday that would banish the country’s 220-year-old Electoral College system, allowing voters instead to directly elect the president.

[IMGCAP(1)]“It’s time for Congress to really give Americans the power of one-person, one-vote, instead of the political machinery selecting candidates and electing our president,” Nelson said in a statement.

Former Sen. Birch Bayh (D-Ind.), father of Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), made two high-profile pushes for direct-vote bills in the 1970s.

Nelson’s call for bypassing the Electoral College comes less than a week after the Democratic National Committee’s Rules and Bylaws panel punished the Sunshine State for moving up its primary. In the wake of the prolonged fight over Florida — and Michigan, which also was penalized — Nelson also is pushing early- voting mandates and the creation of a regimented regional primary calendar.

— Matthew Murray