Note: Today we are in a phase where the popular vote in presidential elections leans Democratic. A simple change in the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact could fix the flaw and still provide the benefits of a popular election. Inicio; Nota Biografica; Obra; Blogs. 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. 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. 12th Amendment: Fixing the Electoral College, What Is Majoritarianism? 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. Why National Popular Vote Would Be a Disaster for America (and NPV 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. 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. 8. 1. Samploon is a database of free essay samples. But NPV could force our electors to disregard the wishes of the . 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. This would happen in the extremely unlikely situation where this candidate would win just for one vote in some . 1. Dont know what Ranked Choice Voting is? 2. Also the NPV Compact allows states to withdraw from the compact as late as four months before an election. The winner-take-all rule is not required by the Constitution and was actually used by only three states in the nation's first presidential election in 1789. That effectively means that votes in the the 75% of the country that are in swing states effectively dont count at all. Although faithless electors have not affected the results or outcome of an election yet, in 2016, there were 7 faithless electors. As a result, the percentage of popular votes secured by Donald Trump was just 46.4% in comparison with Hilary Clinton, who secured 48.5% of the votes. HuffPost's top politics stories, straight to your inbox. National Popular Vote (NPV) - InfluenceWatch [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.]. With a popular vote in place, each election win would be decreed a mandate to follow the platform of the winning party. 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. Even the minority party wouldnt be encouraged to negotiate because they could simply stall until the next election. Why National Popular Vote Is a Bad Idea | HuffPost Latest News National Popular Vote compact pros and cons. 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. Although moving to a popular vote election would balance the weight of each vote, it would also create more sway in larger population states. 5. 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 1. 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). A close election would trigger the need for a full recount. I am confident that when we enter the next phase where the popular vote leans Republican that Republicans will change and be adamant that we should elect the president by direct popular vote and Democrats will be arguing why we should keep the Electoral College/Winner-Take-All system. A candidate could be elected without the popular vote. It happened once, in 1876. Destroying the Electoral College: The Anti-Federalist National Popular 10 Apr. 2. 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 danger of NPV is that it will undermine the complex and vital underpinnings of American democracy. what connection type is known as "always on"? The Electoral College distorts presidential campaigns . 4. Actually the NPV Compact doesnt change one word in he Constitution and in fact only changes state laws. Change). Past Event: The League of Women Voters of Berrien and Cass Counties has announced plans to broadcast a webinar discussing the National Popular Vote (NPV) on Monday, Feb. 27 at 7:00 p.m. National Popular Vote has been leading the campaign to fix the electoral college and elect the president by national popular vote since its founding in 2006 . mike matarazzo last photo. A Critique of the National Popular Vote October 13, 2008 Policy Analysis No. However, a popular vote system, although hard to implement, is a more purely democratic system than the Electoral College. June 7, 2022 . Feb 25, 2023. Longley, Robert. This type of system would give the individual voter a much more significant influence. Proponents of the National Popular Vote fail to understand the most basic facts about the American presidential electoral system. Louisiana voters should decide who receives Louisiana's electoral votes. Advantage: Encourages Voter Turnout Constitutional Amendment to Guarantee the Right to Vote for All U.S. Citizens. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. It is not at all clear that it would similarly prosper under the direct election regime being pushed by NPV. Because every vote is equal inside Ohio or Florida, presidential candidates avidly seek out voters in small, medium, and large towns. Lawmakers discuss plan to enact National Popular Vote in Michigan. 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. Regional candidates could secure enough votes to win a national election. ThoughtCo, Dec. 16, 2020, thoughtco.com/the-national-popular-vote-plan-3322047. 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. What Is the National Bonus Plan? - Reference.com - What's Your Question? The National Bonus Plan was proposed by historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. 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. Menu burger Close thin Facebook Twitter Google plus Linked in Reddit Email arrow-right-sm arrow-right Loading Home Buying Calculators Is there a conservative case for National Popular Vote? Under the electoral college system, the candidates which receive the most votes in each state (or district) receive its assigned electoral votes. Lastly, the biggest problem that the Electoral College produces is the reality that a persons vote really doesnt matter (Black). It isnt impossible to pass a Constitutional amendment, though history shows that it is not an easy process to complete. Ken Bickers. It fails to reach the ideal of one-person one-vote. 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. The National Popular Vote Bill is a bill for Americans interested in both preserving our Electoral College and reforming the shortcomings of our current "winner-take-all" system that awards all the electors of one state to the candidate who wins in that particular state and . If the presidential election were switched to the popular vote, then it would only take about 35% of the vote for a candidate to win. However, many people believe that a direct popular election is more democratic and fair than the Electoral College. That would give the Compact states only 3 days( and two of those days were weekend days) to certify their state votes. 18 Pros and Cons of Popular Vote - Vittana.org 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. . Lincoln Chafee (D) made his state the latest to sign on. https://www.thoughtco.com/the-national-popular-vote-plan-3322047 (accessed March 4, 2023). Two-thirds of the campaign events were in four states, Florida, Iowa, Virginia, and Ohio, that year. Electoral College Pros and Cons - ThoughtCo National Popular Vote Movement - Common Cause | Get Involved A close election would trigger the need for a full recount. The Danger of the National Popular Vote Compact - Harvard Law Review Learn more about how the National Popular Vote compact works and the ways it could make our elections better for everyone. In the 2016 election, only 58 percent of eligible voters went to the polls. 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. And thats not how it should be in a democracy. 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. Here are six reasons why legislators should reject this attempt to jettison our electoral system: 1. Proportional Plan 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. 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. And thats not how it should be in a democracy. In a closely contested direct popular election, every precinct across the country might require close examination, rather than a handful of states or precincts. Privacy Policy. With the polarization in global politics today, especially in the United States, a switch to the popular vote would likely increase costs even further. 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.. Explains kimberling, william c., and dave leip's . It could help to reduce partisanship. Some areas may bend the rules of an election by extending voting hours illegally. Though the original, some would say highly undemocratic, purpose. Weve already seen this issue take place with the GOP primaries in 2016. The compact is designed to ensure that the candidate who receives the most votes nationwide is elected president, and it . It is our national motto and is so for a reason. All samples were added by students. NCSL conducts policy research in areas ranging from agriculture and budget and tax issues to education and health care to immigration and transportation. National popular vote - Ballotpedia Since the Constitution and the Bill of Rights became governing documents in the United States, there have only been 17 amendments made to it. 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. Using a popular vote system, candidates could campaign regionally, targeting major areas of support, to secure enough votes to win an election. Electoral College Alternatives: What Are the Other Options? - The Daily Dot NPV supporters claim, accurately, that a direct election for president would reduce or eliminate the possibility that a fringe candidate (like a Ralph Nader or Ron Paul) winning five percent or less of the vote in a single state could serve to defeat a major party candidate from the same side of the political spectrum. (LogOut/ List of the Cons of Proportional Representation. It has been enacted into law in 11 states with 165 electoral votes, and will take effect when enacted by states with 105 more. 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. That's almost 1.5 billion . F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush were elected with less than a majority of the votes cast. For example, if a candidate was very popular in New York City, Los Angeles and other large cities, she might not need to earn votes from other areas of the country. Advantages and Disadvantages of the National Popular Vote Interstate All in all, the Electoral College causes many problems that seem unfair to American voters during such an important election. In the U.S., that means people who lean Democratic live in urban areas, while people who lean Republican live in rural areas. 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. Steve Sisolak vetoed it. cons of the national popular vote plan. 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. The Electoral College is very undemocratic and riddled with issues. How Many Electoral Votes Does a Candidate Need to Win? 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. 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. That is hardly a mandate for governing, though it would be taken as such. 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. "The National Popular Vote Plan." As with other powers entrusted to the states, it is an application, not a circumvention, of the Constitution when the states utilize those powers as they see fit. It would limit the influence of local issues in the election. Part of HuffPost Politics. Because there was a difference of less than 1,000 tabulated votes between George W. Bush and Al Gore in one state, Florida, the nation watched as 6 million votes were recounted by machine, several hundred thousand were recounted by hand in counties with differing recount standards, partisan litigators fought each other in state and federal courts, the secretary of state backed by the majority of state legislators (all Republicans) warred with the state's majority Democratic judiciary -- until 37 days after the election the U.S. Supreme Court, in a bitterly controversial 5-4 decision effectively declared Bush the winner. 3. It would reduce the threshold necessary to win the office. Either would provide a reason for both parties to compete in most states because there would be electors to win. It would require an Amendment in the U.S. for presidential elections.