It’s been a while since I’ve posted here, and since I posted my views on the Electoral College. TL;DR is that I think with state representation handled in the Senate and proportional representation represented in the House, that the Presidential election should be based only on the popular vote, and since the Electoral College just repeats proportional representation with a little added weight to less-populated states, the College should be abolished. To do so would require a Constitutional Amendment, not likely to pass so-called “Red States”.
I learned earlier this week that there is in fact a movement, called the “National Popular Vote Compact”, which does not require an amendment to the U.S. Constitution amendment, but rather is down to the states to amend their own constitutions to pledge all their Electoral College delegates to the winner of the popular vote, which would be a de facto end to the Electoral College. And it is a fair ways to completion – 18 states have already passed the measure, representing 209 electoral votes.
The compact would not actually be enforced until at least 270 electoral votes are represented, which would represent the majority of the college and therefore choose the winner of the election. So 61 more electoral votes are needed, at which point the popular vote winner would be elected president, regardless of the remaining states. Until then, the old rules remain in effect.
Nevada is close to passing, but the measure still needs to pass both houses again before it can go to the voters, no sooner than 2026. They represent 6 votes. All the other perpetual “battleground” states have either passed it in one of their houses, or are at least discussing it, representing 87 votes. More than enough, but there is still a long way to go before they could potentially join the compact.
So many problems would be solved – no worries about faithless electors, or constitutional crises over certifications and challenges to the votes, or legal challenges seeking to delay the certifications forcing the election out of the hands of the people completely.
Let’s get ‘er done.
