Electoral college reform proposals include (1) the district plan, awarding each state's two at-large electoral votes to the statewide popular vote winners, and one electoral vote to the winning candidates in each congressional district; (2) the proportional plan, awarding electoral votes in states in direct proportion to the popular vote gained Advantage: Encourages Voter Turnout And unlike direct elections, either would provide an incentive for grass-roots activity, coalition building and enhanced citizen participation. "The National Popular Vote Plan." 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. There would be a reduced need to build coalitions. 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. It makes things easier for extreme parties to gain representation. Right now, the President of the United States is not elected by a popular vote. Nevada passed the legislation in 2019, but Gov. However, Hilary Clinton won 2.6 million more popular votes nationwide than Donald Trump. There would be fewer opportunities to illegally alter the results of an election. 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. The winner would receive one vote per congressional district won with the winner of the state popular vote gaining a two electoral votes. Each vote would affect each candidate instead of being overlooked due to which state those votes would be coming from. It would eliminate the threat of a faithless elector. It has its pros and cons though, many of which critics debate over. Today, many electors are bound to vote according to their states' popular vote results, and those who aren't almost always do. Under the electoral college system, the candidates which receive the most votes in each state (or district) receive its assigned electoral votes. 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. National Popular Vote will create a single member district (all 50 states and D.C.), where the candidate with the most votes wins and . https://www.thoughtco.com/the-national-popular-vote-plan-3322047 (accessed March 4, 2023). Bush and Al Gore (Black). April 8, 2016 National popular vote far better than Electoral College system for choosing presidents, Stanford professors say. 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. First it would be relatively easy to implement. 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). How the National Popular Vote Plan Would Work. To date, the bill has passed at least one legislative chamber in 9 states possessing 82 combined electoral votes: AR, AZ, ME, MI, MN, NC, NV, OK, and OR. If you need to flag this entry as abusive. 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. In theory we could change how we elect our president every four years. It is perhaps the most simplistic form of an election. Wyoming had just 3 electoral votes, but only had 255,000 voters as well. (LogOut/ After the 2016 presidential election, political science expert Nate Silver wrote that, since the swing states are not likely to support any plan that might reduce their influence over control of the White House, the National Popular Vote bill will not succeed unless the predominately Republican red states adopt it. every decade states are redistricted could be redrawn to capture house seats and corrupt the Presidential election 2. 7. But with the NPV Compact a change in party control of just one or two states could restore the old system of electing the president and then four years later it could be changed back. 805 15th Street, NW, Suite 800 The National Popular Vote compact would have the same effect as a constitutional amendment to abolish the Electoral College but has the benefit of retaining the power to control presidential elections in states hands. 10 Apr. That is hardly a mandate for governing, though it would be taken as such. 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). Longley, Robert. The National Popular Vote Bill is not a Democrat or Republican bill. List of the Cons of Using the Popular Vote 1. Web. This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. In each instance the republic has survived, and democracy has prospered despite the challenges presented. 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. 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. Definition and Examples, How Political Party Convention Delegates are Chosen, What Is a Caucus? The National Popular Vote initiative transpired in 2006. 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. [Add switching votes of losing party to the other partys voter totals in every state using the Electoral College/Winner-Take-All system (except for 5 EC votes in Maine and Nebraska that are awarded proportionally instead of by Winner-Take-All.]. 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. 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. ThoughtCo. With a popular vote in place, each election win would be decreed a mandate to follow the platform of the winning party. 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. cons of the national popular vote plan. Battleground states would disappear in U.S. elections. Cookie Notice 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. PBS: What does voter turnout tell us about the 2016 election. pros and cons." dave leip's atlas of u.s. presidential elections. 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. That effectively means that votes in the the 75% of the country that are in swing states effectively dont count at all. Under the current structure of the electoral college, the focus of a presidential campaign is on the so-called battleground states. 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. Lincoln Chafee (D) made his state the latest to sign on. 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. 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. Actually the NPV Compact doesnt change one word in he Constitution and in fact only changes state laws. Contributors control their own work and posted freely to our site. However, in the popular vote, Trump only received 62,984,825 votes against Hillary Clinton's 65,853,516 popular votes. 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. How Many Electoral Votes Does a Candidate Need to Win? When you cast your ballot, you're not actually voting directly for your favored presidential candidate. An electoral college would solve . That's almost 1.5 billion . 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. 4. And finally, the Electoral College doesnt work today anywhere near how the Founding Fathers intended it to work when they created it back in 1787. Some critics argue that more people would vote in a direct popular election, according to the University of the Pacific. A close election would trigger the need for a full recount. sale of united methodist church property. I fear that most, if not all, of the states signing onto the NPV Compact will be just blue states. Because its so hard to get an amendment to the Constitution passed that means that once it becomes law it will probably remain so for a long time because the bar to change it back is so high.
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