NCSL's experts are here to answer your questions and give you unbiased, comprehensive information as soon as you need it on issues facing state legislatures. The National Popular Vote bill will take effect when enacted into law by states possessing 270 electoral votes a majority of the current 538 electoral votes. In 6 Elections, 2 Near-Misses (2020, 2004) and 2 Second-Place Presidents (2016, 2000) National Popular Vote Has Been Enacted into Law in 16 Jurisdictions with 195 Electoral Votes. The years-old effort is slowly making its way through state legislatures in hopes of changing the way That is hardly a mandate for governing, though it would be taken as such. 4. However, a popular vote system, although hard to implement, is a more purely democratic system than the Electoral College. 4. The NPVC is a proposed interstate compact in which the signatory states agree that they will appoint their presidential electors in accordance with the national popular vote rather than their own state electorate's vote. For example, if a state used NPV and voted for candidate A, but candidate B received the most votes nationwide, the state would allocate its presidential electors to candidate B. Each states electoral votes are tallied by Congress in the House chamber by House and Senate representatives on the 6th day of January following the Presidential election. If the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact becomes law it would be an excellent first step to help get a future amendment to the Constitution to replace the Electoral College/Winner-Take-All system to elect the president with a national popular vote using Ranked Choice Voting. Colorado is on the verge of joining a nationwide movement that could eventually change how we choose the next president of the United States. An electoral college would solve . 2. According to the Constitution, the Electoral College is a compromise between election of the President by a vote in Congress and election of the President by a popular vote of qualified citizens (National Archives). During a popular vote, a candidate who withdraws from the race or dies before the election can be held could still be on the ballot. That means some voters, like Republicans in California or Democrats in Mississippi, are voting without power and without attention from their preferred candidates each year. Explains kimberling, william c., and dave leip's . It knows that a majoritarianism that produces a plurality is not the voice of a majority of the citizenry. For example: States already have the power to award their electors to the winner of the national popular vote, although this would be disadvantageous to the state that did so unless it was joined simultaneously by other states that represent a majority of electoral votes. Because every vote is equal inside Ohio or Florida, presidential candidates avidly seek out voters in small, medium, and large towns. The President-Elect takes the oath of office and is sworn in as President of the United States on January 20th in the year following the Presidential election (Archives). Donald Trump won the presidential election by securing 304 electoral votes, compared to Hillary Clintons 227 electoral votes. How Many Electoral Votes Does a Candidate Need to Win? Over the long run the countrys popular vote in presidential elections has roughly been equally split between Republican and Democratic.*. In U.S. history, there has been one vice-presidential candidate who died after being nominated and one that withdrew from their partys ticket. The winner would receive all of the compact states electoral votes, giving them at least the necessary 270 to win the White House. In 2016, Hillary Clinton had more than 10 million of these votes, while Donald Trump had more than 8.3 million, even though Trump won 30 states and Clinton won 20 and the District of Columbia. Voters in spectator states, including five of the nations 10 most populous states (California, Texas, New York, Illinois, and New Jersey), and 12 of the 13 least populous states (all but New Hampshire) have no real incentive to go to the polls as their votes do not affect the outcome of the election. The alternative view of democracy is more complex; it is one that includes but is not limited to the pursuit of equality. Instead of a direct popular election, the United States has the Electoral College, a group of electors who represent each state's votes. It would require an Amendment in the U.S. for presidential elections. As a result, the bill will take effect when enacted by states possessing an additional 74 electoral votes. In countries where the concept of popular votes is in place, every vote has an equal weight regarding the election outcome. And that would undermine the legitimacy of the NPV among those people. Bosque de Palabras 1. ThoughtCo, Dec. 16, 2020, thoughtco.com/the-national-popular-vote-plan-3322047. By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. By adding this new interstate compact to the Electoral College/Winner-Take-All system to elect our president we are in fact making this system even more complicated and even harder for the voters to understand. Samploon is a database of free essay samples. every decade states are redistricted could be redrawn to capture house seats and corrupt the Presidential election The country thinks we are going to elect the president using the Electoral College/Winner-Take-All system tans and then four months before the election we change to the National Popular Vote Compact system and elect the president by whoever gets the most popular votes. sale of united methodist church property. It is not at all clear that it would similarly prosper under the direct election regime being pushed by NPV. It has been enacted by twelve states, which include Rhode Island, Vermont, Hawaii, the District of Columbia, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Washington, New Jersey, Illinois, New York, and California. The NPV is a multi-state agreement that, when active, would ensure that the presidential candidate who wins the popular vote nationally also wins in the Electoral College. Get breaking news and updates from Common Cause. On a close popular vote, often defined as a difference of 0.5% or less in the tabulated results, an automatic recount would likely be triggered. Two-thirds of the campaign events were in four states, Florida, Iowa, Virginia, and Ohio, that year. National Popular Vote is a constitutional and practical way to implement nationwide popular election of the President a goal traditionally supported by an overwhelming majority of Americans. 2. Published: Mar. A close election would trigger the need for a full recount. Steve Sisolak vetoed it. The Electoral College system - the way we really elect our president - has always had its detractors and lost even more public support after the 2016 election, when it became apparent that President-ElectDonald Trump might have lost the nationwide popular vote to Sec. In the 2020 election California did not certify their votes until Friday, December 11, only 3 days before the Electoral College met on Monday, December, 14. When the Constitution was set in place in 1789, the U.S. elected its first president. 12th Amendment: Fixing the Electoral College, What Is Majoritarianism? As the National Popular Vote (NPV) movement steps up its effort to impose a direct election for president, attempting to enlist states with a sufficient number of electors to constitute a majority (268) and to bind them to the winner of the national popular vote, those states considering the proposal might first reflect on the nightmare aftermath of the 2000 presidential election. It would reduce the influence of third parties on the U.S. presidential election. Even if states impose fines on faithless electors for their actions, it is not a guarantee that the behavior will stop. Thats a bank of about 14 million potential voters that reliably vote as a majority for Democratic candidates. In the 2020 general election, a ballot proposition attempted to overturn Colorado's membership to the pact, but the measure failed, 52.3% to 47.7% in the referendum. The states' approval of the compact is a victory for democracy and the principle of "one person, one vote." Most recently, the bill was passed by a bipartisan 4016 vote in the Republican-controlled Arizona House, 2818 in Republican-controlled Oklahoma Senate, 574 in Republican-controlled New York Senate, and 3721 in Democratic-controlled Oregon House." The states would implement this plan once enough states controlling 270 electoral votes have signed on, guaranteeing that the national popular vote winner will win the presidency.. In fact, let's tally up all the votes cast for president between 1932 and 2008. This move would ensure that the Presidency would be given to the candidate that received the most popular votes all 50 states and the District of Columbia. 2015. 805 15th Street, NW, Suite 800 When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. The National Popular Vote (NPV) refers to the concept of allocating a state's presidential electors to the candidate who receives the most votes nationwide regardless of the state results in a presidential election. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Here are six reasons why legislators should reject this attempt to jettison our electoral system: 1. And unlike direct elections, either would provide an incentive for grass-roots activity, coalition building and enhanced citizen participation. The itineraries of presidential candidates in battleground states (and their allocation of other campaign resources) demonstrate what every gubernatorial or senatorial candidate in every state already knows namely that when every vote matters, the campaign must be run in every part of the state. That would increase the amount of polarization being experienced in politics today because there would be less of a need to compromise. 7. The framers enacted the provisions relating to the Electoral College to allow for state innovation. The Electoral College distorts presidential campaigns . The issue raised by the National Popular Vote campaign is fundamental: What kind of a democracy should America be? Where the National Popular Vote Plan Stands. The Congressional District method would allocate electoral votes based on the winner of each congressional district. However, in the popular vote, Trump only received 62,984,825 votes against Hillary Clinton's 65,853,516 popular votes. How the National Popular Vote Plan Would Work. A candidate may not have to concentrate anymore, but they may have to move their attention to states such as Texas, New York, California, and Alaska. In the 2000 presidential election, Al Gore won the popular vote by more than 500,000 ballots, but George Bush became president by winning the Electoral College 271 to 266. The senators in the U.S. Senate make up two votes in addition to the votes that represent the number of its members in the U.S. House of Representatives (Archives). An individuals vote doesnt make a difference when it is counted against the votes of the delegates in the House of Representatives and Senate. (LogOut/ Hillary Clinton, but won the electoral vote to become the 45thPresident of the United States. cons of the national popular vote planchicago religious demographics. It could help to reduce partisanship. and our ThoughtCo. Only Nebraska and Maine do not. "The National Popular Vote bill would guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in the entire U.S. Unless the national popular vote was very close, or there were all lot of recounts outstanding, the Compact states in most cases would effectively know what the outcome would be and could be prepared to certify their state votes very quickly to make the Electoral College meeting date deadline.
