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 cost of a presidential election in the United States is already several billion dollars. The lack of competition and campaigning in a majority of states owes itself not to the existence of the Electoral College's indirect method of choosing presidents but rather to the winner-take-all method of choosing electors in all but two states. How the National Popular Vote Plan Would Work. 2015. When you cast your ballot, you're not actually voting directly for your favored presidential candidate. Lastly, the biggest problem that the Electoral College produces is the reality that a persons vote really doesnt matter (Black). That is hardly a mandate for governing, though it would be taken as such. 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. 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. Just 12 Closely Divided Battleground States Got 96% of 2020 Campaign Events. That would likely reduce the number of voters who cast a ballot in each election as most people are more concerned about local impacts than national policies. The alternative view of democracy is more complex; it is one that includes but is not limited to the pursuit of equality. 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. Analyzes how william c. kimberling, the deputy director of the federal election commission, is a credible author over the issue. Lastly, it may cause a third-party candidate to prevail and win, which would allow Americans to be given more choices besides the two primary parties (Richards). All other elections in the U.S. are through the popular vote. When a popular vote is held for a national office, the election becomes more about platform issues than local issues. That effectively means that votes in the the 75% of the country that are in swing states effectively dont count at all. During the 2012 elections, 38 states, also known as spectator states, were ignored and forgotten. The bill has crossed paths with 36 legislative chambers and has been sponsored or voted for by 3,112 state legislators (National Popular Vote). Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz often split about 60% of the GOP vote, which allowed Donald Trump to win early primaries with 35% of the vote. A candidate could be elected without the popular vote. 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. 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. The National Popular Vote initiative transpired in 2006. The danger of NPV is that it will undermine the complex and vital underpinnings of American democracy. It would limit the influence of local issues in the election. Then, election officials in all participating states would choose the electors sworn to support thepresidential candidate who received the largest number of popular votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Two-thirds of the campaign events were in four states, Florida, Iowa, Virginia, and Ohio, that year. 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. It has been enacted into law in 11 states with 165 electoral votes, and will take effect when enacted by states with 105 more. 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. 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. 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. 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. Many of these states dont participate in campaign visits or get televised ads. The United States has a representative democracy rather than a direct democracy: Citizens elect representatives rather than voting on each bill. To pass an amendment to change the Constitution the Founding Fathers wisely required approval by 2/3 of both houses of Congress and 3/4 of the state legislatures instead of a simple majority. 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. 7. "The National Popular Vote bill would guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in the entire U.S. Heres how. Get breaking news and updates from Common Cause. The danger of NPV is that it will undermine the complex and vital underpinnings of American democracy. Bush and Al Gore (Black). In theory that could happen every four years. Longley, Robert. 10 Apr. It would reduce diversity in the election structures. Web. A popular vote structure would virtually eliminate the idea of a third-party candidate having a chance in an election. The discussion around using the popular vote for elections has increased since the results of the 2016 election. N.p., n.d. (LogOut/ However, some critics argue that the advantages of a direct popular election including reflecting democratic principals, outweigh the disadvantages. 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. In 2016, Florida had 29 electoral votes and 9.4 million voters, created a voter value of 0.72. That structure makes it easier for extremist views to find official representation. The years-old effort is slowly making its way through state legislatures in hopes of changing the way But if some non-member List of the Cons of Using the Popular Vote 1. That created a voter value of 2.85. (2021, Jun 14). Here are six reasons why legislators should reject this attempt to jettison our electoral system: 1. 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. Currently, candidates focus more on swing and battleground states to help them gain those electoral votes. 1. 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. 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. 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 a direct popular election, a candidate could theoretically win without having broad support throughout the country. Weve already seen this issue take place with the GOP primaries in 2016. It happened once, in 1876. (LogOut/ NPV is more than a third of the way to its goal. 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. In states with large population centers, individual voters have less power than voters in smaller states. The National Popular Vote plan does not do away with the Electoral College system, an action that would require a constitutional amendment. http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/. 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. 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. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/the-national-popular-vote-plan-3322047. 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). 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. After all, is said and done, the candidate who attains the largest number of votes can still lose. The states' approval of the compact is a victory for democracy and the principle of "one person, one vote." 48 Vitosha Boulevard, ground floor, 1000, Sofia, Bulgaria, Samploon, Inc. 2022. For the popular vote, however, Hillary Clinton received 65.8 million votes, while Donald Trump received 62.9 million votes. 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. However, a popular vote system, although hard to implement, is a more purely democratic system than the Electoral College. 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. Without any sort of broad support, the politics of the country could become even more fractured than they already are. Currently, the National Popular Vote bill has 172 electoral votes. Donald Trump won the presidential election by securing 304 electoral votes, compared to Hillary Clintons 227 electoral votes. 3. 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. every decade states are redistricted could be redrawn to capture house seats and corrupt the Presidential election On Dec. 22, 2016, the results were certified in all 50 states. 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. If you need to flag this entry as abusive. 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 She graduated magna cum laude from Brandeis University with bachelor's degrees in creative writing, English/American literature and international studies. A popular vote election takes all ballots that are cast, counts them, and declares the winner based on who received the most votes. Contributors control their own work and posted freely to our site. This type of system would give the individual voter a much more significant influence. Using the NPV system means that every vote counts the same. The National Popular Vote Bill is not a Democrat or Republican bill. How Many Electoral Votes Does a Candidate Need to Win? The plan would not get rid of the Electoral College. And that would lead to chaos in how political parties campaign for president and could also undermine the legitimacy of the process. Under the current structure of the electoral college, the focus of a presidential campaign is on the so-called battleground states. It makes things easier for extreme parties to gain representation. 4. amazon web services address herndon va custom airbrush spray tan near me custom airbrush spray tan near me 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. 622 By John Samples The National Popular Vote plan (NPV), introduced in more than 40 states, and adopted. An electoral college would solve . 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. 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. Samploon is a database of free essay samples. In U.S. history, there has been one vice-presidential candidate who died after being nominated and one that withdrew from their partys ticket. It fails to reach the ideal of one-person one-vote. 5. The Electoral College is made up of 538 electors and a majority of 270 electoral votes is mandatory to nominate the President. 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 last amendment, the 27th Amendment to the Constitution, was ratified nearly 200 years after it was originally proposed. and our Do you have information you want to share with HuffPost? Due to some states being heavily populated in comparison to others, that may help a candidate quickly obtain a win. Even though we will be able to elect the president by national popular vote using the The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, eventually the rules for how we elect the president should be an official part of the Constitution. 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. 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. Using a popular vote system, candidates could campaign regionally, targeting major areas of support, to secure enough votes to win an election. Instead of a direct popular election, the United States has the Electoral College, a group of electors who represent each state's votes. F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush were elected with less than a majority of the votes cast. The Pros and Cons of the Electoral College - SmartAsset The electoral college is a tradition of American politics that's fairly controversial. 3. 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. 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. Instead, each state and Washington D.C. is assigned a certain number of electoral votes based on its population. 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." That principle should be expanded to presidential elections. A close election would trigger the need for a full recount. cons of the national popular vote plansuper lemon haze greenhouse. 2. Mayors, governors, and senators are all elected by a simple majority. 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). This has occurred in 5 of the nation's 56 presidential elections, most recently in 2016. 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.. . The appeal of NPV is the simplicity of its message. However, many people believe that a direct popular election is more democratic and fair than the Electoral College. Since the Constitution and the Bill of Rights became governing documents in the United States, there have only been 17 amendments made to it. The United States does not have direct election of its president, yet most national, state and local offices are filled by the candidate with the most votes. Under the system of proportional representation, any party with a high enough percentage of the vote will receive a seat in the government. Currently, 48 of the 50 states follow the winner-take-all rule. Richards earned a master's degree at Carnegie Mellon University. This feature is critical to the passionate bipartisan support the compact receives. 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. This divide creates natural divisions between groups of people who both support their country, but in different ways. The horror of a potential national recount is only one of the dangers direct presidential elections poses. 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. Published: Mar. One of the biggest reasons why voters dont vote is because they feel like their vote doesnt count. The winner would receive all of the compact states electoral votes, giving them at least the necessary 270 to win the White House. Though the original, some would say highly undemocratic, purpose. This brings us to 196 of the 270 electoral votes needed to activate the pact. This National Popular Vote Compact wouldn't take effect until states with 270 electors a majority joined in. A candidate can win the popular vote in enough states to win a majority of electoral votes but still lose the popular vote nationally. 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." For more information, please see our 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. Under the electoral college, the majority votes of states assign electoral votes to a candidate, which then creates a majority total required for a victory. That offers the possibility that someone unwilling or unable to hold the office could be elected. 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.