Salem, ore. (AP) – When the Elect Oral Rally College Ledge meets on Monday, its opponents are hoping it marks the beginning of the end of this century, with the trend of losing the popular vote twice for the presidency this century.
This year’s presidential race provides the latest impetus for change to supporters of the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. Democrat J. Biden was winning a landslide victory over President Donald Trump in both the popular vote and the Electoral College ledge, but the contest reached a narrow margin in a handful of swing states.
If the results had been different in some of those states, Trump could have lost popular votes for a second consecutive election, but could have won the presidency because of the electoral college system.
“It’s an old, ugly mess that should have apparently arisen some time ago,” said Mark Levine, a Democrat and a member of the Virginia House of Delegates, who introduced a bill that would sign the Virginia National Popular Vote Movement. It will force member countries to give their election votes to the winner of the nationwide popular vote.
Levine’s move passed the Virginia House earlier this year. Passing through the Senate will bring the movement 13 election votes closer to its goal.
So far, 15 states and the District of Columbia have signed up.
For presidential candidates, the number 270 electorate represents the number of elect oral college colleges to secure victory. The move towards the national popular vote is the goal for the magic number. He has already achieved 196 and aims to achieve more next year. Proponents of her case have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online.
Under the current system, the electoral votes of each state go to the candidate who gets the popular vote of that state, in which the runner-up gets nothing. Nebraska and Maine are the only exceptions.
Focusing on Virginia and eight other states in 2021: Arizona, Arkansas, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina and Oklahoma, this national popular vote pushes the group towards compact. Spokesman Patrick Rosenthal said progress has already been made in those states by passing at least one legislative chamber, but the finish line has not been met.
He has a total of 88 electoral votes, which is enough to surpass 270.
“We will focus on states that offer a credible opportunity to legislate between now and the 2024 presidential election.”
Success in those states is far from certain. In the modern era, the Electoral College has benefited Republican candidates – George W. Bush in 2000 and Trump in 2016 after losing the popular vote. Of the states targeted next year, Republicans will control Arizona, Arkansas, Michigan, North Carolina and Oklahoma and both houses of the legislature and a chamber in Minnesota.
Even in Nevada, where Democrats control the legislature and governor’s control fees, the issue is hard to sell.
Nevada Govt. Steve Sisolek last year vetoed a move backed by Democratic lawmakers that would make Nevada committed to compact.
The Democratic governor said the compact “could reduce the role of smaller states like Nevada in contesting national elections.”
Nevada has been a state of war for several presidential election cycles, including this year. So the campaign by Trump and Biden comes to a halt, if the current system did not exist the focus would not have fallen on Nevada’s 3 million inhabitants.
Under the Electoral Rule College Ledge, the number of electoral votes in each state is equal to the size of its congressional delegation. Wyoming, America’s least populous state, has two senators and one representative, so it gets three. California, the most populous state, is 55.
To win the White House, the presidential candidate must collect at least half of the total 8 votes8 plus one – or ૨ collect0. The system has failed to pass a five-time split presidential ruling, with one candidate winning the presidency despite losing the popular vote.
According to the Pew Research Center, U.S. The only modern democracy is. Most others choose their leader by national popular vote or the parliamentary system in which the winning party chooses the head of government.
Opponents say the U.S. The system violates the one-person-one-vote principle, encourages candidates to definitely ignore Democratic or Republican states and gives disproportionate power to voters in only a few states.
But supporters of the Electoral College say it adheres to federalism by maintaining the role of states in presidential elections.
If the movement to change the system reaches the 270 threshold, those supporters can sue on a constitutional basis. The constitution says Congress must consent to interstate contacts. However, the U.S. The Supreme Court has ruled that some compacts do not require the consent of Congress.
“We believe that the Supreme Court’s precedent suggests that this additional action is not necessary,” National Popular Opinion Chairman John Koza said in an interview. “Still, the National Popular Vote is working to get support for the compact in Congress.”
After Bush and Trump won the White House despite losing the popular vote, the pressure to change the system has become more biased.
“That’s why states with a democratic majority are more interested than states with a Republican majority,” said Wendy Underhill, director of elections and director of the National Assembly of National State Legislatures.
The 15 state legislatures that passed the National Popular Vote Bill since 2007 are controlled by all Democrats: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont. .
The Columbia Council-controlled F-District, controlled by Democrats, also approved it, contributing three electoral votes from the country’s capital.
A decade ago, when President Barack Obama was a Democrat, there was an issue of the opposite party at the time, Koza said.
For example, the National Popular Vote Criteria then passed the Republican-controlled New York Senate, but failed to get it through the Democrat-controlled Assembly.
“It’s an issue that people have a very short-term way to look at, and Democrats felt they had a lock on the White House.”
Legislatures in the Midwest and South have avoided joining this compact. The South Dakota Legislature also passed a resolution this year.
“The current electoral-oriented college ledge system creates the necessary balance between rural and urban interests and ensures that the winning candidate has the support of many regions of the country,” the resolution says.
State Representative Tina Mulali, who introduced the resolution, said in an email that the Elect Oral Ralph College Ledge accelerates the political influence of smaller states like South Dakota and protects the minority population.
He said the nationally popular vote, “Like two wolves and a sheep, decides what to eat.”
___
Follow Andrew Selsky on Twitter at https://twitter.com/andrewselky
.
