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. 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. The time to stop its momentum is now. The winner would receive one vote per congressional district won with the winner of the state popular vote gaining a two electoral votes. Yet, by May 2021, 15 states and Washington, D.C., had signed onto the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. How Many Electoral Votes Does a Candidate Need to Win? Without any sort of broad support, the politics of the country could become even more fractured than they already are. 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. Second, some believe itll intensify election problems, such as illegally extended voting hours or irregularly high voter turnout (Richards). 9. Definition and Examples, How Political Party Convention Delegates are Chosen, What Is a Caucus? Part of HuffPost Politics. 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. The Electoral College was established in the Constitution to protect minority interests and mitigate the possibility of a regional candidate. The danger of NPV is that it will undermine the complex and vital underpinnings of American democracy. Americans are still bent up and flustered on how an individual could lose the popular vote, but still, be given the upper hand in Electoral College votes. 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 That means a candidate who receives a majority of their votes in a high-delegate state, such as California, could make a dramatic impact on the rest of the election. 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. Web. Activating the National Popular Vote compact would reshape our . This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. The National Popular Vote Plan. The Electoral College is made up of 538 electors and a majority of 270 electoral votes is mandatory to nominate the President. However, some critics argue that the advantages of a direct popular election including reflecting democratic principals, outweigh the disadvantages. Learn more about how the National Popular Vote compact works and the ways it could make our elections better for everyone. However, this also means that regions with a quite low population density will almost have no influence on the election outcome at all since they only have far too few votes to make a real difference. 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. on WordPress.com. The Electoral College is very undemocratic and riddled with issues. Get breaking news and updates from Common Cause. 3. Heres how. Rebekah Richards is a professional writer with work published in the "Atlanta Journal-Constitution," "Brandeis University Law Journal" and online at tolerance.org. what connection type is known as "always on"? The NPV movement seeks to create an unfair and unconstitutional system that diminishes the voting rights of citizens throughout the country and raises the prospect of increased voter fraud and. 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 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. All in all, the Electoral College causes many problems that seem unfair to American voters during such an important election. 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. When a popular vote is held for a national office, the election becomes more about platform issues than local issues. (2021, Jun 14). If enacted by enough states, the National Popular Vote bill would guarantee the presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. 1, 2023 at 1:16 PM PST. Proponents of the National Popular Vote fail to understand the most basic facts about the American presidential electoral system. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. The last amendment, the 27th Amendment to the Constitution, was ratified nearly 200 years after it was originally proposed. 1. The second advantage is that the all votes would be equally weighed (Richards). Home| Government| Elections| Electoral College| Electoral College Pros And Cons. 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. Maryland and New Jersey passed this bill in 2007, Hawaii and Illinois in 2008, Washington in 2009, Massachusetts and the District of Columbia in 2010, California and Vermont in 2011, Rhode Island in 2013, New York in 2014 and Connecticut in 2018. 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. Do you have information you want to share with HuffPost? The discussion around using the popular vote for elections has increased since the results of the 2016 election. 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. Although faithless electors have not affected the results or outcome of an election yet, in 2016, there were 7 faithless electors. Removing this system could encourage more people to come out to support their candidate. 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. The Electoral College system, however imperfect, serves this broader view of democracy. This advance is referred to as the winner-take-all approach. In fact, let's tally up all the votes cast for president between 1932 and 2008. The popular vote currently gives every citizenCalifornians and Texans, Hawaiians and Mainers, Alabamans and Oregoniansan equal say in choosing the president. The Pros and Cons of the Electoral College - SmartAsset The electoral college is a tradition of American politics that's fairly controversial. 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. People are moving to live in like-minded communities more than ever before. Menu burger Close thin Facebook Twitter Google plus Linked in Reddit Email arrow-right-sm arrow-right Loading Home Buying Calculators 622 By John Samples The National Popular Vote plan (NPV), introduced in more than 40 states, and adopted. The National Popular Vote plan is a bill passed by participating state legislatures agreeing that they will cast all of their electoral votes for the presidential candidate winning the nationwide popular vote. In a closely contested direct popular election, every precinct across the country might require close examination, rather than a handful of states or precincts. Even though pre-election polls made conspicuous predictions of Hilary Clinton winning the presidency and . Electing a president who did not have broad regional support could lead to a fractured and less cohesive country, according to the Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. 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. As a result, the bill will take effect when enacted by states possessing an additional 74 electoral votes. Contributors control their own work and posted freely to our site. 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. 4. Here is the entire text of the proposed "Agreement Among the States to Elect the President by National Popular Vote." Tweet Email this More on The Electoral College: Honorable Steve Cohen One of the biggest reasons why voters dont vote is because they feel like their vote doesnt count. 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.. This type of system would give the individual voter a much more significant influence. It is also true that no president since 1824 has received the votes of a majority of the eligible voters and 18 presidents, including Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, Harry S. Truman, John. 48 Vitosha Boulevard, ground floor, 1000, Sofia, Bulgaria, Samploon, Inc. 2022. 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). Watch out! Thats a bank of about 14 million potential voters that reliably vote as a majority for Democratic candidates. 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. 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 horror of a potential national recount is only one of the dangers direct presidential elections poses. The bill has crossed paths with 36 legislative chambers and has been sponsored or voted for by 3,112 state legislators (National Popular Vote). F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush were elected with less than a majority of the votes cast. Colorado is on the verge of joining a nationwide movement that could eventually change how we choose the next president of the United States. 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%. In each instance the republic has survived, and democracy has prospered despite the challenges presented. The National Popular Vote effort, explained The National Popular Vote effort is now halfway to its goal of electing future presidents via the popular vote, after Rhode Island Gov. The method works by electing one elector within each congressional district by popular vote and selecting the remaining two electors by a statewide popular vote. That means every state is allowed a minimum of 3 electoral votes. The official 2016 election results from the Electoral College gave Donald J. Trump the victory with 306 electoral votes v. Hillary Clinton's 232 votes. Of the 538 Electoral College votes available, Donald J. Trump received 304 votes, Hillary Clinton received 227 votes, and seven votes went to others: three for Colin Powell, one for Faith Spotted Eagle, one for John Kasich, one for Ron Paul, and one for Bernie Sanders). Change). Under the system of proportional representation, any party with a high enough percentage of the vote will receive a seat in the government. . The National Bonus Plan was proposed by historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. A close election would trigger the need for a full recount. 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. Because of the state Winner-Take-All rules, which arent even part of the Constitution, they can lead to presidential elections where the winner of the election doesnt have the most popular votes. Under the electoral college system (and other voting systems not based on popular voting), it only takes one extra vote more than the other candidate to create the needed results for the election. cons of the national popular vote plan. The states that join the NPV Compact will not be able to certify their Electoral College Votes until all 50 states and DC certify their state popular votes and any mandated/requested recounts since the Compact state ECVs are dependent on the winner of the national popular vote and not just their own state popular votes. It understands that while the nation is one union, it is also an amalgam of varying experiences and perspectives arrived at via the settings and unique problems surrounding those who live in different places, and that these differences fall within the broad rubric of federalism. It isnt impossible to pass a Constitutional amendment, though history shows that it is not an easy process to complete. 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. 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 is our national motto and is so for a reason. 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. The years-old effort is slowly making its way through state legislatures in hopes of changing the way ashburnham school committee; its his baby now political cartoon meaning; softstar primal sawyer The appeal of NPV is the simplicity of its message. 1. 7. 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. I fear that most, if not all, of the states signing onto the NPV Compact will be just blue states. The election is held every four years on the first Tuesday in November and prior to election day, the two candidates endure state-level primaries, caucuses, debates, and conventions. But don't forget, Bush won the popular vote four years later by three million votes. Like most issues involving politics, the U.S. Constitution is largely silent on the political issues of presidential elections. The framers enacted the provisions relating to the Electoral College to allow for state innovation. In theory we could change how we elect our president every four years. For the popular vote, however, Hillary Clinton received 65.8 million votes, while Donald Trump received 62.9 million votes. https://www.thoughtco.com/the-national-popular-vote-plan-3322047 (accessed March 4, 2023). 3. After the process, the President of the Senate reveals who has officially been voted in as President and Vice President of the United States. A shift of a relative handful of votes in one or two states would have elected the second-place candidate in six of the last 12 presidential elections. When the Constitution was set in place in 1789, the U.S. elected its first president. In the 2016 election, "swing states" that might vote Republican or Democrat like Wisconsin were targets of candidates Donald J. Trump and Hillary R. Clinton. In theory that could happen every four years. Once effective, states could withdraw from the compact at any time except during the six-month window between July 20 of an election year and Inauguration Day (January 20). Unexpected emergencies would be difficult to handle. The selection of presidential electors is specifically entrusted to the states by the Constitution. That could lead to a very bad situation where, instead of the people voting in November to determine who the next president is, one or two states could effectively decide who becomes the next president simply by joining or withdrawing from the NPV Compact and changing the rules on how the votes for president are counted in the next election. Instead, it modifies the winner-take-all rule in a way its supporters say would assure that every vote will matter in every state in every presidential election. Lastly, some Americans believe that there would be an increase in voter turn-out if people felt that their vote was viewed as a significant asset to their country. 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. 6. Longley, Robert. Even if states impose fines on faithless electors for their actions, it is not a guarantee that the behavior will stop. 2. 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. http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/. Imperfect, because its modern-day blessings -- enhancing coalition building, pluralism, federalism and grass-roots participation -- are enjoyed only by a minority of states (in any given presidential election 18 or 20), where the battle for electoral votes is competitive for both major parties. 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. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. It would reduce the influence of third parties on the U.S. presidential election. It would limit the influence of local issues in the election. a plan for a national popular vote could undermine the . Among the others: By its very size and scope, a national direct election will lead to nothing more than a national media campaign, which would propel the parties' media consultants to inflict upon the entire nation what has been heretofore limited to the so-called battleground states: an ever-escalating, distorted arms race of tit-for-tat unanswerable attack advertising polluting the airwaves, denigrating every candidate and eroding citizen faith in their leaders and the political process as a whole. In the U.S., that means people who lean Democratic live in urban areas, while people who lean Republican live in rural areas. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. 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. Their answer is simple: one in which every citizen's vote is equal to every other citizen's vote and one in which the winner of the presidential popular vote, no matter how small his or her percentage is of those who voted, would be elected. This would happen in the extremely unlikely situation where this candidate would win just for one vote in some . April 8, 2016 National popular vote far better than Electoral College system for choosing presidents, Stanford professors say. 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. Nevada passed the legislation in 2019, but Gov. 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. It sees a healthy and vibrant democracy needing the underpinnings of civil society that rests on the sustained and active engagement of the citizenry and promotes approaches that seek to maximize that involvement. A direct popular election would make it more possible for third-party candidates to succeed and would also encourage political parties to become more radical and extreme. Longley, Robert. 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. Louisiana voters should decide who receives Louisiana's electoral votes. Some critics argue that more people would vote in a direct popular election, according to the University of the Pacific. Privacy Policy. It would eliminate superfluous votes. 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. After all, is said and done, the candidate who attains the largest number of votes can still lose. If a party knows either that it can't win a single elector in a state or has an easy road to winning all of them, it sends its resources to where it has a competitive chance.. Thats how politics works in America. Under the electoral college system, if a state consistently pulls as leaning to one party, someone who supports the other party may not vote because they feel like there isnt a need to do so. In Maine, both houses of the legislature passed the bill in 2019, but it failed at the final enactment step. How about receiving a customized one? Imagine a scenario where a presidential candidate focuses on Los Angeles, New York City, Portland, OR and Seattle. That's almost 1.5 billion . However that presumably rare exception happened in the 2000 election when Florida could not complete their statewide recount in time for the Electoral College deadline and the Supreme Court forced Florida to use their first vote count without a statewide recount. 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. 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. There are a number of pros for this method. By continuing well assume youre on board with our, https://samploon.com/electoral-college-and-national-popular-vote-pros-and-cons/, Select a writer from a large pool of experts. This National Popular Vote Compact wouldn't take effect until states with 270 electors a majority joined in. With a popular vote in place, each election win would be decreed a mandate to follow the platform of the winning party. An individuals vote doesnt make a difference when it is counted against the votes of the delegates in the House of Representatives and Senate. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. A direct popular election also ensures that citizens' votes have equal weight. 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. Others may struggle to meet higher than expected voter turnout levels. Politicians would focus on fewer swing states (Bigger states more potential votes) National Popular Vote compact pros and cons. However, a popular vote system, although hard to implement, is a more purely democratic system than the Electoral College. 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. According to the University of Missouri-Kansas City Law School, some proponents of the Electoral College argue that it isolates election problems, such as illegally extended voting hours or irregularly high voter turnout. That, in turn, would likely diminish voter turnout. Moving to the popular vote structure would eliminate this potential issue. Published: Mar. Pros & Cons of a National Popular Vote Buy Complete Issue $19.95 Login or Subscribe The National Popular Vote How would the interstate compact work? 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. Some states, such as California and Hawaii, both had their bills vetoed by their governors before it was overridden and enacted by state legislators. Candidates feel they either cant win or lose with the votes from these states. It would eliminate the Congressional provisions for a non-majority election. Retrieved from https://samploon.com/electoral-college-and-national-popular-vote-pros-and-cons/, Should the Electoral College Be Abolished, Pros for The Electoral College in the United States, Electoral College is Undemocratic but We Have no Better System, The Electoral College Should Be Terminated, The Electoral College Annotated Bibliography. Under the current structure of presidential elections in the U.S., the states become a battleground of red states vs. blue states. In 2016, Gary Johnson received 4.48 million votes and 0 electoral votes, but the potential is always there for this to happen. The Congressional District method would allocate electoral votes based on the winner of each congressional district. 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. 2. Ken Bickers. But the national popular vote plan doesn't require a . The candidate who placed second in the popular vote was elected in 2016, 2000, 1888, 1876, and 1824. Currently, candidates focus more on swing and battleground states to help them gain those electoral votes. If you need to flag this entry as abusive. PBS: What does voter turnout tell us about the 2016 election. 7. 4. Going to the popular vote would eliminate this issue altogether. Under the Electoral College system, voters in states that are overwhelmingly in support of one candidate might feel like their vote is unimportant.