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When you cast your ballot, you're not actually voting directly for your favored presidential candidate. 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). Get breaking news and updates from Common Cause. "The National Popular Vote Plan." However, Hilary Clinton won 2.6 million more popular votes nationwide than Donald Trump. That created a voter value of 2.85. Without the popular vote bill, swing states would continue to get more leverage and attention from candidates to ensure that they would be able to capture their votes. 4. Candidates feel these states need a little bit more of their attention and apply pressure to supply these states with solutions to their problems in order to gain their vote. In the 2016 election, only 58 percent of eligible voters went to the polls. a plan for a national popular vote could undermine the . All states could adopt the system that now exists in Maine and Nebraska, where all but two electors are chosen by congressional district, and the other two go to the statewide winner. Many of these states dont participate in campaign visits or get televised ads. If the election is based off a popular vote, each of these areas would need to be closely examined in real-time, which would enhance the security of each vote that is cast. Though the original, some would say highly undemocratic, purpose. The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact collectively apportions votes to the winner of the overall popular vote without a constitutional amendment abolishing the electoral college or the assent of Congress. 7. This is a situation that has caused controversy in the election years of of 1800, 1876, 1888, 2000 and 2016 when the elected president won the Electoral College and the presidency but did not win the popular vote. 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.. 13 Early College High School Pros and Cons, 18 Major Advantages and Disadvantages of the Payback Period, 20 Advantages and Disadvantages of Leasing a Car, 19 Advantages and Disadvantages of Debt Financing, 24 Key Advantages and Disadvantages of a C Corporation, 16 Biggest Advantages and Disadvantages of Mediation, 18 Advantages and Disadvantages of a Gated Community, 17 Big Advantages and Disadvantages of Focus Groups, 17 Key Advantages and Disadvantages of Corporate Bonds, 19 Major Advantages and Disadvantages of Annuities, 17 Biggest Advantages and Disadvantages of Advertising. Do you have information you want to share with HuffPost. To take effect, the National Popular Vote bill must be enacted by the state legislatures of states controlling a total of 270 electoral votes - a majority of the overall 538 electoral votes and the number currently required to elect a president. In a direct popular election, a candidate could theoretically win without having broad support throughout the country. As of December 2020, the National Popular Vote bill has been adopted by 15 states and the District of Columbia, controlling 196 electoral votes: CA, CO, CT, DC, DE, HI, IL, MA, MD, NJ, NM, NY, OR, RI, VT, and WA. An individuals vote doesnt make a difference when it is counted against the votes of the delegates in the House of Representatives and Senate. National Popular Vote will create a single member district (all 50 states and D.C.), where the candidate with the most votes wins and . 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. on Advantages and Disadvantages of the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, Follow All U.S. Citizens Should Vote. Do you have information you want to share with HuffPost? Part of HuffPost Politics. Post author: Post published: June 29, 2022 Post category: Uncategorized Post comments: paris apartment eiffel tower view for sale paris apartment eiffel tower view for sale Although the 20th Amendment to the Constitution provides clarity to this situation, that process is based on the electoral college. And in all states but Maine and Nebraska, the candidate who receives the most votes in that state is awarded all of its electoral votes, whether the split is 51% to 49% or 99% to 1%. It isnt impossible to pass a Constitutional amendment, though history shows that it is not an easy process to complete. During the 2012 elections, 38 states, also known as spectator states, were ignored and forgotten. 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. amazon web services address herndon va custom airbrush spray tan near me custom airbrush spray tan near me But for those people who feel that changing how we elect the president should only be done by constitutional amendment they will feel that using the NPV Compact will undermine the legitimacy of the process even though its perfectly legal and constitutional. 4. pros and cons." dave leip's atlas of u.s. presidential elections. The winner would receive all of the compact states electoral votes, giving them at least the necessary 270 to win the White House. But if we set politics aside and focus on what is really best for democracy in our country in the long run I believe that the advantages of using the NPV compact to elect our president outweigh the disadvantages and the best way to elect our president in the 21st century is by direct popular vote using Ranked Choice Voting. 12th Amendment: Fixing the Electoral College, What Is Majoritarianism? Start and finish your paper with ease. District Plan CONS Technically still possible, but A LOT hard to do so District 1 = Romney 57% District 2 = Romney 52% District 3 = Romney 70% Gerrymandering. It would reduce diversity in the election structures. Cons: Smaller states don't get as much of a say and people would demand a national recount National Bonus Plan Winner of popular vote gets extra 102 electoral votes Pros: No winner of popular vote losing overall Cons: Basically exactly like the Direct plan District Plan Win popular vote in each district, you get one electoral vote. (LogOut/ 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. But the much greater danger to American democracy is that direct elections may make it possible for a president to be elected by no more than 30 percent of the vote, regardless of his or her suitability for office, so long as there is sufficient money and a clever media advisor behind the effort. We have seen this outcome in the 2016 Presidential election between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump and in the 2000 election between George H.W. Many cities and school districts, under threat of a lawsuit by a Malibu attorney, have already adopted or are in the process of changing to district elections rather than remaining citywide or . In theory we could change how we elect our president every four years. That means the cost of counting all the votes would be duplicated. The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC) is an agreement among a group of U.S. states and the District of Columbia to award all their electoral votes to whichever presidential ticket wins the overall popular vote in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC) is an agreement among states and the District of Columbia to award their respective electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote of the presidential election. I will explain that in another blog post. Evidence as to how a nationwide presidential campaign would be run can be found by examining the way presidential candidates currently campaign inside battleground states. Ken Bickers. Under the electoral college system of voting, the number of representatives a state has in Congress (Senators and Representatives) is the total number of electoral votes it is allowed. Although this may limit the amount of diversity that occurs in office, and may generate extra financial costs, the argument could be made that these risks outweigh the results of an election where a majority of states, not a majority of people, put someone into office. The National Popular Vote stems from the winner-take-all approach that validates the presidential candidate interactions with only 4 out of 50 dates during their campaign. That would increase the amount of polarization being experienced in politics today because there would be less of a need to compromise. Every state is allocated several votes according to the number of senators and representatives in its U.S. Congressional delegation. In Maine, both houses of the legislature passed the bill in 2019, but it failed at the final enactment step. The bill has crossed paths with 36 legislative chambers and has been sponsored or voted for by 3,112 state legislators (National Popular Vote). And that would lead to chaos in how political parties campaign for president and could also undermine the legitimacy of the process. 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. https://www.thoughtco.com/the-national-popular-vote-plan-3322047 (accessed March 4, 2023). That would give the Compact states only 3 days( and two of those days were weekend days) to certify their state votes. A candidate can win the popular vote in enough states to win a majority of electoral votes but still lose the popular vote nationally. on WordPress.com. Today, the fact that Nebraska and Maine do not use the winner-take-all system serves as proof that modifying the Electoral College system, as proposed by the National Popular Vote plan is constitutional and does not require a constitutional amendment. The cost of a presidential election in the United States is already several billion dollars. In contrast, other issues related to the federal government are not exclusively entrusted to the states, and therefore the states lack the power to alter them. A majority of 270 electoral votes is required to elect the president. Once enacted, the participating states would cast all of their electoral votes for the presidential candidate winning the nationwide popular vote, thus ensuring that candidate the required 270 electoral votes. However, in the popular vote, Trump only received 62,984,825 votes against Hillary Clinton's 65,853,516 popular votes. June 7, 2022 . National Popular Vote (NPV) was founded in 2006 by lottery scratch-card inventor John Koza and election lawyer Barry Fadem to lobby for an "interstate compact" for states to deliver their electoral votes for President to the "winner" of the national popular vote. Probably the NPV Compact would be enacted into law with as little as a simple majority of the states and possibly even less. In states with large population centers, individual voters have less power than voters in smaller states. 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. This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. Washington, DC 20005, Common Cause pays tribute to our leader, our friend, and a lifelong advocate for our democracy, Constitution, Courts & Other Democracy Issues, Ensure Fair Districts & Reflective Democracy, Expand Voting Rights & Election Integrity, Promote Free Speech & Accountability in Media, Protect the Constitution, Courts & Other Democracy Reforms. Rebekah Richards is a professional writer with work published in the "Atlanta Journal-Constitution," "Brandeis University Law Journal" and online at tolerance.org. 805 15th Street, NW, Suite 800 Would it aid a fight to eliminate first past the post or would it further entrench the established party system voters American voters have expressed disdain for. It has been enacted into law in 11 states with 165 electoral votes, and will take effect when enacted by states with 105 more. In the early 19th century, many states ratified an approach that would allow the candidate with the most votes in that state to be the winner. After the process, the President of the Senate reveals who has officially been voted in as President and Vice President of the United States. 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. But in practice it could happen every 10 or 20 years when the Electoral College votes change because the congressional boundaries change with the new population census. It would require an Amendment in the U.S. for presidential elections. Longley, Robert. The NPVIC is an agreement among states designed to guarantee election of the presidential candidate who wins the most popular votes in the 50 states and Washington, D.C. NPV is grounded in two powers delegated to states by the Constitution: the power to design rules for awarding their electoral votes and the power to enter into interstate The danger of NPV is that it will undermine the complex and vital underpinnings of American democracy. The National Popular Vote initiative transpired in 2006. The Electoral College distorts presidential campaigns . 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.