"The National Popular Vote bill would guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in the entire U.S. While we look further into the National Popular Vote, lets investigate some of its pro and cons for the American democracy. 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. 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. For the popular vote, however, Hillary Clinton received 65.8 million votes, while Donald Trump received 62.9 million votes. 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. However, a popular vote system, although hard to implement, is a more purely democratic system than the Electoral College. 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. 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. Electoral votes are designated among the states based on Census. Just 12 Closely Divided Battleground States Got 96% of 2020 Campaign Events. There would be fewer opportunities to illegally alter the results of an election. The electoral college encourages a two-party system and rewards candidates who have broad appeal. Dont know what Ranked Choice Voting is? Removing this system could encourage more people to come out to support their candidate. But the biggest problem with changing how we elect our president using the NPV Compact is that its too easy to change it back. But sometime in the future the popular vote will change back and lean Republican. America is known to have the costliest, prolonged, and complicated structure when electing a head of state. What would happen during a switch to the popular vote would be unknown. The discussion around using the popular vote for elections has increased since the results of the 2016 election. OKLAHOMA CITY Oklahomans will head to the polls March 7 to decide if the state will become the 22nd in the country to legalize recreational marijuana for use by anyone 21 and older. Mayors, governors, and senators are all elected by a simple majority. 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. 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.. The popular vote currently gives every citizenCalifornians and Texans, Hawaiians and Mainers, Alabamans and Oregoniansan equal say in choosing the president. 2. In fact, the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, which has now been adopted by 15 states and the District of Columbia, totaling 196 electoral votes, is an actionable and realistic . Candidates feel they either cant win or lose with the votes from these states. When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. Change). Hillary Clinton, but won the electoral vote to become the 45thPresident of the United States. Although many supporters of the electoral college argue that a two-party political system is more stable, some critics counter that having more than two parties would give Americans more choice. The President-Elect takes the oath of office and is sworn in as President of the United States on January 20th in the year following the Presidential election (Archives). By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. National Popular Vote values rural and urban voters equally. The National Bonus Plan was proposed by historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. 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. 6. 5. The electoral requires that an election which does not receive a majority of electoral votes be taken into the U.S. House of Representatives. Get breaking news and updates from Common Cause. After the process, the President of the Senate reveals who has officially been voted in as President and Vice President of the United States. 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. That is hardly a mandate for governing, though it would be taken as such. Going to the popular vote would eliminate this issue altogether. In theory we could change how we elect our president every four years. "The National Popular Vote Plan." 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. A close election would trigger the need for a full recount. Some critics argue that more people would vote in a direct popular election, according to the University of the Pacific. 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. A Critique of the National Popular Vote October 13, 2008 Policy Analysis No. In the U.S., that means people who lean Democratic live in urban areas, while people who lean Republican live in rural areas. 6. Copyright 2023 Leaf Group Ltd. / Leaf Group Education, Explore state by state cost analysis of US colleges in an interactive article, Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections: The Electoral College, University of the Pacific: Electoral College Reform, University of Missouri-Kansas City Law School: The Electoral College. 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. It knows that a majoritarianism that produces a plurality is not the voice of a majority of the citizenry. There would be a reduced need to build coalitions. Cons of Electoral College. But if some non-member 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. If this happens many people in the red states will not feel that the change is legitimate even if its legal and technically constitutional. 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 It has been enacted by twelve states, which include Rhode Island, Vermont, Hawaii, the District of Columbia, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Washington, New Jersey, Illinois, New York, and California. Just another site cons of the national popular vote plan . Note: Today we are in a phase where the popular vote in presidential elections leans Democratic. That principle should be expanded to presidential elections. 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%. Common Cause Although moving to a popular vote election would balance the weight of each vote, it would also create more sway in larger population states. And that would undermine the legitimacy of the NPV among those people. 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. Bosque de Palabras (LogOut/ 2. 7. It has been enacted into law in 11 states with 165 electoral votes, and will take effect when enacted by states with 105 more. 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. Thats how politics works in America. The principal flaw in the plan is its assumption that under the plan there will still be only two major parties competing for the presidency in 2020. . 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 To determine the National Popular Vote winner, state election officials simply would tally the nationwide vote for president based on each states official results. Analyzes how william c. kimberling, the deputy director of the federal election commission, is a credible author over the issue. This brings us to 196 of the 270 electoral votes needed to activate the pact. Imagine a scenario where a presidential candidate focuses on Los Angeles, New York City, Portland, OR and Seattle. 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. April 8, 2016 National popular vote far better than Electoral College system for choosing presidents, Stanford professors say. 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. The years-old effort is slowly making its way through state legislatures in hopes of changing the way Because of the winner-take-all rule, a candidate can be elected president without winning the most popular votes nationwide. on Advantages and Disadvantages of the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, Follow All U.S. Citizens Should 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. Cookie Notice 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. On April 15, 2014 Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York State quietly signed into law the National Popular Vote, making New York the 10th state -- along with the District of Columbia -- to support this effort, while also boosting the total numbers to 165 of the 270 electoral votes needed to make a true national popular vote a reality. 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. 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. 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. Thats the way it has been in this country for a long time. 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). With a popular vote in place, each election win would be decreed a mandate to follow the platform of the winning party. (See: Electoral Votes by State). The horror of a potential national recount is only one of the dangers direct presidential elections poses. 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. 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. 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). That created a voter value of 2.85. Although the 20th Amendment to the Constitution provides clarity to this situation, that process is based on the electoral college. A plan to enact the National Popular Vote was introduced in the Michigan Legislature on Wednesday. Con:not Eliminate possibility that loser of the popular vote can still win the electoral vote The Proportional Plan A proposed reform where each presidential candidate would receive the percent of electoral votes that they win from each state Proportional Plan Pro:Possible for loser of popular vote to win presidency. Yes. 3. The Constitution specifically leaves details like how the electoral votes are cast up to the states. This divide creates natural divisions between groups of people who both support their country, but in different ways. 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. tobin james the blend 2017 ; real estate marketing solutions; cons of the national popular vote plan; lassi kefalonia shops cons of the national popular vote plan Proportional Plan The pros and cons of the popular vote structure of an election allow for the majority to have their say in who they wish to serve. NCSL conducts policy research in areas ranging from agriculture and budget and tax issues to education and health care to immigration and transportation. In the 2016 election, only 58 percent of eligible voters went to the polls. . 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. The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is an agreement where states in the compact award all their electoral votes to the winner of the . 9. For under its plan, the next time the U.S. has very close national vote, a recount would not be of six million votes in one state but of more than 130 million votes in all states and the District of Columbia, all with their own rules for conducting a recount. If you need to flag this entry as abusive. Longley, Robert. Right now, the President of the United States is not elected by a popular vote. The Electoral College was established in the Constitution to protect minority interests and mitigate the possibility of a regional candidate. It would eliminate the Congressional provisions for a non-majority election. This would happen in the extremely unlikely situation where this candidate would win just for one vote in some . In U.S. history, there has been one vice-presidential candidate who died after being nominated and one that withdrew from their partys ticket. Rebekah Richards is a professional writer with work published in the "Atlanta Journal-Constitution," "Brandeis University Law Journal" and online at tolerance.org. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. 1. How Many Electoral Votes Does a Candidate Need to Win? For the 7 presidential elections between 1992-2016, the Republican candidate has won the Electoral college 3 times. Should that happen, then the final decision of who gets to serve as President of the United States is taken away from individual voters. Two-thirds of the campaign events were in four states, Florida, Iowa, Virginia, and Ohio, that year. In fact, let's tally up all the votes cast for president between 1932 and 2008. First it would be relatively easy to implement. 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. On average, studies show that falls in line with historical averages showing around 60 percent of eligible voters casting a vote in presidential election years. Although it is sometimes conjectured that a national popular election would focus only on big cities, it is clear that this would not be the case. 3. 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.. To become president of the United States of America, you must be at least 35 years old, have lived in the U.S. for at least 14 years and be a natural-born citizen. During the 2012 elections, 38 states, also known as spectator states, were ignored and forgotten. June 7, 2022 . Make a contribution to support Common Cause today. 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. Louisiana voters should decide who receives Louisiana's electoral votes. every decade states are redistricted could be redrawn to capture house seats and corrupt the Presidential election Do you have information you want to share with HuffPost? 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. Unexpected emergencies would be difficult to handle. Richard F. Potthoff looks critically at a proposed alternative way of electing the US president, the National Popular Vote plan, where all states in an interstate compact which cover 270 or more electoral votes would cast their electoral votes for the candidate who won the nationwide vote, no matter who wins their state. Or states might explore what was recently proposed in Colorado -- that electors be allocated in proportion to each candidate's share of the popular vote above a certain threshold. 12th Amendment: Fixing the Electoral College, What Is Majoritarianism? It would limit the influence of local issues in the election. 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. It gives each vote an equal amount of power. The Electoral College is very undemocratic and riddled with issues. That offers the possibility that someone unwilling or unable to hold the office could be elected. For more information, please see our A popular vote system would significantly impact voters and turnout. 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. That means the cost of counting all the votes would be duplicated. And thats not how it should be in a democracy. 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. cons of the national popular vote plan. That means every state is allowed a minimum of 3 electoral votes. 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. Their vote only counts at the local level, not the national level, because of the electoral votes. 2015. However, in the popular vote, Trump only received 62,984,825 votes against Hillary Clinton's 65,853,516 popular votes. Currently, 48 of the 50 states follow the winner-take-all rule. This has occurred in 5 of the nation's 56 presidential elections, most recently in 2016. The country could become less stable and divided if he or she did not have a vast amount of support (Richards). A simple change in the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact could fix the flaw and still provide the benefits of a popular election. In contrast, in a direct popular election, each vote matters equally. 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. Web. In theory that could happen every four years. In a closely contested direct popular election, every precinct across the country might require close examination, rather than a handful of states or precincts. (LogOut/ There are pros and cons to both systems. 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