The Electoral College is made up of 538 electors and a majority of 270 electoral votes is mandatory to nominate the President. This National Popular Vote Compact wouldn't take effect until states with 270 electors a majority joined in. It was a great idea in 1787 but the country has changed since 1787 and the people today want to elect the president by a simple, direct popular vote where whoever gets the most votes wins like we do in every other election in the country. However, a popular vote system, although hard to implement, is a more purely democratic system than the Electoral College. In the case of a tie, there are contingencies in place to determine which person will serve in the elected office. This feature is critical to the passionate bipartisan support the compact receives. The states' approval of the compact is a victory for democracy and the principle of "one person, one vote." 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. The country could become less stable and divided if he or she did not have a vast amount of support (Richards). 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. Louisiana voters should decide who receives Louisiana's electoral votes. Cookie Notice 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. In 2004, for example, candidates George W. Bush and John Kerry campaigned heavily in states such as Nevada while ignoring political issues in New York, a state that Kerry was sure to win, according to the University of the Pacific. Similarly, because a national campaign mandates a national message, there would also be a smaller incentive for coalition-building or taking into account the characteristics, needs and desires of citizens in differing states and regions. 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. When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. Surprisingly enough, the National Popular Vote bill could possibly bring forth some problems. Moving to the popular vote structure would eliminate this potential issue. 622 By John Samples The National Popular Vote plan (NPV), introduced in more than 40 states, and adopted. Now, the states are considering the National Popular Vote plan, a system that, while not doing away with the Electoral College system, would modify it to ensure that the candidate winning the national popular vote is ultimately elected president. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. An individuals vote doesnt make a difference when it is counted against the votes of the delegates in the House of Representatives and Senate. The popular vote eliminates this issue too. 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 electoral requires that an election which does not receive a majority of electoral votes be taken into the U.S. House of Representatives. 9. 4. There are a number of pros for this method. I am confident that when we enter the next phase where the popular vote leans Republican that Republicans will change and be adamant that we should elect the president by direct popular vote and Democrats will be arguing why we should keep the Electoral College/Winner-Take-All system. A faithless elector in the United States is someone who casts an electoral ballot for someone other than the individuals to whom they are pledged. In fact, let's tally up all the votes cast for president between 1932 and 2008. 4. 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. But don't forget, Bush won the popular vote four years later by three million votes. The only election in the United States which is not governed by the popular vote is the presidential election. 1. The National Popular Vote plan would eliminate what critics of the Electoral College system point to as the "winner-take-all" rule - the awarding all of a state's electoral votes to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in that state. Although faithless electors have not affected the results or outcome of an election yet, in 2016, there were 7 faithless electors. Steve Sisolak vetoed it. 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. The time to stop its momentum is now. The alternative view of democracy is more complex; it is one that includes but is not limited to the pursuit of equality. Heres how. N.p., n.d. Not only it already happened five times, but in theory, a candidate could win the presidency with only 22% of the popular vote in a two-candidates race. Under the current structure of presidential elections in the U.S., the states become a battleground of red states vs. blue states. The compact is designed to ensure that the candidate who receives the most votes nationwide is elected president, and it . State Question 820 lays out a statutory framework for a recreational industry that would begin about 90 days after election results are certified. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting Cookies Settings, which can also be found in the footer of the site. Is this a solution to first past the post or is it merely reinforcing our current two party system? amazon web services address herndon va custom airbrush spray tan near me custom airbrush spray tan near me Do you have information you want to share with HuffPost? Many Americans are confused about how a win is obtained under these conditions and are on a quest to change this traditional statute. Only Nebraska and Maine do not. Wyoming had just 3 electoral votes, but only had 255,000 voters as well. ThoughtCo. 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. The years-old effort is slowly making its way through state legislatures in hopes of changing the way 6. However, some critics argue that the advantages of a direct popular election including reflecting democratic principals, outweigh the disadvantages. 1, 2023 at 1:16 PM PST. As of July 2020, a National Popular Vote bill has been signed into law in 16 states controlling a total of 196 electoral votes, including 4 small states, 8 medium-sized states, 3 big states (California, Illinois, and New York), and the District of Columbia. An electoral college would solve . 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. https://www.thoughtco.com/the-national-popular-vote-plan-3322047 (accessed March 4, 2023). Presidential candidates have no reason to poll, visit, advertise, organize, or campaign in states that they cannot possibly win or lose; in 2016, 68% of presidential campaign visits took place in just six states. The amendment requires that any change to the rate of compensation for members of Congress can only take effect after a subsequent election in the House of Representatives. In countries where the concept of popular votes is in place, every vote has an equal weight regarding the election outcome. The plan would not get rid of the Electoral College. 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. 2023 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved. 805 15th Street, NW, Suite 800 The Electoral College is very undemocratic and riddled with issues. HuffPost's top politics stories, straight to your inbox. Start and finish your paper with ease. Today the Democrats want to replace the Electoral College/Winner-Take-All system with a direct popular vote and the Republicans adamantly want to keep it. Contributors control their own work and posted freely to our site. After the process, the President of the Senate reveals who has officially been voted in as President and Vice President of the United States. In 2016, Florida had 29 electoral votes and 9.4 million voters, created a voter value of 0.72. If a popular vote were allowed to declare a winner instead, it wouldnt be through a state-by-state counting of electoral votes. But we're closer to that than you might think 15 states and the District of Columbia have already signed on, providing 196 electoral votes of the needed 270. Privacy Policy. 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. It makes things easier for extreme parties to gain representation. Since 2008, 15 states and the District of Columbia have passed laws to adopt the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC), which is an multi-state agreement to commit electors to. Under the National Popular Vote plan,the compact would take effect only when enabling legislation has been enacted by states collectively possessing a majority of the electoral votes:270 of 538 total. I fear that most, if not all, of the states signing onto the NPV Compact will be just blue states. According to Article II, Section 1, "Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress." 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. This brings us to 196 of the 270 (73%) electoral votes needed to activate the pact just 74 votes away. NPV is more than a third of the way to its goal. 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. It could encourage voter turnout. This divide creates natural divisions between groups of people who both support their country, but in different ways. Just another site cons of the national popular vote plan . Hence, the National Popular Vote plan is an interstate compact a type of state law authorized by the U.S. Constitution that enables states to enter into a legally enforceable, contractual obligation to undertake agreed joint actions, which may be delayed in implementation until a requisite number of states join in. The use of the Electoral College has been the only approach the U.S. has used to gain a President, but this way has generated numerous issues. Many people may feel that any major change in how we elect the president should be in the Constitution and not in a legal loop hole even if its legal and technically constitutional. That nightmare may seem like a pleasant dream if NPV has its way.