3. 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. Others may struggle to meet higher than expected voter turnout levels. It is perhaps the most simplistic form of an election. These battleground or swing states receive 7% more federal grants, twice as many presidential disaster declarations, more Superfund enforcement exemptions, and more No Child Left Behind law exemptions (National Popular Vote). Every state is allocated several votes according to the number of senators and representatives in its U.S. Congressional delegation. The plan would not get rid of the Electoral College. This type of system would give the individual voter a much more significant influence. Popular vote better than Electoral College, Stanford scholars say And thats not how it should be in a democracy. These are the states that may go to either major party candidate in the election. 27 Major Pros & Cons Of The Electoral College - E&C A direct popular election would make it more possible for third-party candidates to succeed and would also encourage political parties to become more radical and extreme. Dont know what Ranked Choice Voting is? 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 In 2016, Gary Johnson received 4.48 million votes and 0 electoral votes, but the potential is always there for this to happen. mike matarazzo last photo. Instead of a direct popular election, the United States has the Electoral College, a group of electors who represent each state's votes. It has been enacted into law in 11 states with 165 electoral votes, and will take effect when enacted by states with 105 more. I will explain that in another blog post. 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. amazon web services address herndon va custom airbrush spray tan near me custom airbrush spray tan near me The National Popular Vote, Explained | Brennan Center for Justice 4. This has occurred in 5 of the nation's 56 presidential elections, most recently in 2016. However, many people believe that a direct popular election is more democratic and fair than the Electoral College. In fact, let's tally up all the votes cast for president between 1932 and 2008. Over the years, the National Popular Vote bill has been introduced in the legislatures of all 50 states. By adding this new interstate compact to the Electoral College/Winner-Take-All system to elect our president we are in fact making this system even more complicated and even harder for the voters to understand. The bill has passed one chamber in 12 additional states with 96 electoral votes. Evidence as to how a nationwide presidential campaign would be run can be found by examining the way presidential candidates currently campaign inside battleground states. It is our national motto and is so for a reason. The Congressional District method would allocate electoral votes based on the winner of each congressional district. But the national popular vote plan doesn't require a . 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. 9. 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. 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. Secondly, it creates a minimalist depiction in the minds of the candidate towards more than 40 states. It would be a national mandate to put someone in office, even if that winning candidate received less than 50% of the vote. 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 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. The second advantage is that the all votes would be equally weighed (Richards). 18 Pros and Cons of Popular Vote - Vittana.org It has also happened four times out of the 56 presidential elections. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. 6. 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. It awards all the bonus votes to the winner of the popular vote. The candidate who placed second in the popular vote was elected in 2016, 2000, 1888, 1876, and 1824. Advantage: Encourages Voter Turnout 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. During the 2012 elections, 38 states, also known as spectator states, were ignored and forgotten. National Popular Vote - Pros and Cons "The National Popular Vote bill would guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in the entire U.S. Definition and Examples. After the process, the President of the Senate reveals who has officially been voted in as President and Vice President of the United States. On Dec. 22, 2016, the results were certified in all 50 states. Advantages and Disadvantages of the National Popular Vote Interstate 2015. 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. Bush and Al Gore (Black). The compact is designed to ensure that the candidate who receives the most votes nationwide is elected president, and it . Instead, each state and Washington D.C. is assigned a certain number of electoral votes based on its population. A candidate could be elected without the popular vote. It would eliminate the threat of a faithless elector. 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. At that stage, anyone who received an electoral vote is eligible to become the next president. Before the 2016 election, the largest vote deficit in the popular vote was Al Gore securing over 500,000 votes more than George W. Bush. Feb 25, 2023. Either would likely produce an electoral vote count closer to the popular vote. Under the current structure of presidential elections in the U.S., the states become a battleground of red states vs. blue states. It fails to reach the ideal of one-person one-vote. In theory we could change how we elect our president every four years. 1. Web. 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. Michigan Legislature considers plan to enact national popular vote This brings us to 196 of the 270 electoral votes needed to activate the pact. The bill has crossed paths with 36 legislative chambers and has been sponsored or voted for by 3,112 state legislators (National Popular Vote). The National Popular Vote Plan to Bypass the Electoral College - ThoughtCo 5. 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 . Under the electoral college system, the candidates which receive the most votes in each state (or district) receive its assigned electoral votes. Electoral College pros and cons: is popular vote better? - netivist Menu burger Close thin Facebook Twitter Google plus Linked in Reddit Email arrow-right-sm arrow-right Loading Home Buying Calculators The Constitution specifically leaves details like how the electoral votes are cast up to the states. That principle should be expanded to presidential elections. Home| Government| Elections| Electoral College| Electoral College Pros And Cons. cons of the national popular vote plansuper lemon haze greenhouse. Either would provide a reason for both parties to compete in most states because there would be electors to win. If the election is based off a popular vote, each of these areas would need to be closely examined in real-time, which would enhance the security of each vote that is cast. The Fatally Flawed National Popular Vote Plan | Cato at Liberty Blog List of the Cons of Proportional Representation. 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. 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. National Popular Vote: Circumventing the United States Constitution But the much greater danger to American democracy is that direct elections may make it possible for a president to be elected by no more than 30 percent of the vote, regardless of his or her suitability for office, so long as there is sufficient money and a clever media advisor behind the effort. Resource allocation would be focused on paid advertising, which would negate the need for grassroots activities. 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). That nightmare may seem like a pleasant dream if NPV has its way. and our Is there a conservative case for National Popular Vote? Battleground states would disappear in U.S. elections. Richards earned a master's degree at Carnegie Mellon University. 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. If that was to take place, America could potentially face the same issues it is facing now. 4. Without change, a plan for a national popular vote could undermine the Inside Ohio or Florida, to pick two examples, the big cities do not receive all the attention, and they certainly do not control the outcome. 8. When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. It knows that a majoritarianism that produces a plurality is not the voice of a majority of the citizenry. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/. 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. This brings us to 196 of the 270 (73%) electoral votes needed to activate the pact just 74 votes away. Regional candidates could secure enough votes to win a national election. 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. If a popular vote were allowed to declare a winner instead, it wouldnt be through a state-by-state counting of electoral votes. As a result, the bill will take effect when enacted by states possessing an additional 74 electoral votes. The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact collectively apportions votes to the winner of the overall popular vote without a constitutional amendment abolishing the electoral college or the assent of Congress. Watch out! It is not at all clear that it would similarly prosper under the direct election regime being pushed by NPV. 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. 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. Candidates feel they either cant win or lose with the votes from these states. Pros and cons of district elections | Columnists | smdailyjournal.com The danger of NPV is that it will undermine the complex and vital underpinnings of American democracy. There are alternatives to winner-take-all that do not involve abandoning the positive aspects of the Electoral College. 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. This blog post is a joint effort with Leslie Francis, former executive director of the Democratic National Committee and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. Each vote would affect each candidate instead of being overlooked due to which state those votes would be coming from. That created a voter value of 2.85. 5. Lawmakers discuss plan to enact National Popular Vote in Michigan Using a popular vote system, candidates could campaign regionally, targeting major areas of support, to secure enough votes to win an election. Under the Electoral College system, voters in states that are overwhelmingly in support of one candidate might feel like their vote is unimportant. Heres how. The states' approval of the compact is a victory for democracy and the principle of "one person, one vote." The winner would receive all of the compact states electoral votes, giving them at least the necessary 270 to win the White House. America is known to have the costliest, prolonged, and complicated structure when electing a head of state. When the Constitution was set in place in 1789, the U.S. elected its first president. cons of the national popular vote plan. Surprisingly enough, the National Popular Vote bill could possibly bring forth some problems. ThoughtCo, Dec. 16, 2020, thoughtco.com/the-national-popular-vote-plan-3322047. Part of HuffPost Politics. When a popular vote is held for a national office, the election becomes more about platform issues than local issues. 12 Proportional Representation Pros and Cons - Vittana.org 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. 4. This divide creates natural divisions between groups of people who both support their country, but in different ways. Congressional District Method - Electoral College Reform - Weebly cons of the national popular vote plan - demo.bobbiclayton.com Because of the Winner-Take-All state laws candidates for president only campaign and spend their money in 12-13 swing states because voters in those few swing states determine who wins the election and presidential candidates totally ignore voters in the rest of the country(except to raise money). People are moving to live in like-minded communities more than ever before. A shift of a relative handful of votes in one or two states would have elected the second-place candidate in six of the last 12 presidential elections. In 2016, Hillary Clinton had more than 10 million of these votes, while Donald Trump had more than 8.3 million, even though Trump won 30 states and Clinton won 20 and the District of Columbia. https://www.thoughtco.com/the-national-popular-vote-plan-3322047 (accessed March 4, 2023). 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 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.. National Popular Vote values rural and urban voters equally. 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. Colorado is on the verge of joining a nationwide movement that could eventually change how we choose the next president of the United States. The Electoral College distorts presidential campaigns . "The National Popular Vote bill would guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in the entire U.S. Some states, such as California and Hawaii, both had their bills vetoed by their governors before it was overridden and enacted by state legislators. 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 National Popular Vote effort, explained The National Popular Vote effort is now halfway to its goal of electing future presidents via the popular vote, after Rhode Island Gov. The danger of NPV is that it will undermine the complex and vital underpinnings of American democracy. PDF The Direct Election Plan - tesd.net 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. As of now, 15 states and Washington, D.C. have joined the National Popular Vote compact: Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Maryland, Washington, New Jersey, Illinois, New York, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Delaware and Oregon. on Advantages and Disadvantages of the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, Follow All U.S. Citizens Should Vote. Opines that the national popular vote plan is the wrong way to abolith the electoral college. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Rebekah Richards is a professional writer with work published in the "Atlanta Journal-Constitution," "Brandeis University Law Journal" and online at tolerance.org. Oklahoma voters weigh pros, cons of legalizing recreational marijuana Because of the winner-take-all rule, a candidate can be elected president without winning the most popular votes nationwide. N.p., n.d. In the 2020 election California did not certify their votes until Friday, December 11, only 3 days before the Electoral College met on Monday, December, 14. It has been enacted into law in 11 states with 165 electoral votes, and will take effect when enacted by states with 105 more. Under the plan, Michigan's 15 Electoral . 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. In the 2016 election, "swing states" that might vote Republican or Democrat like Wisconsin were targets of candidates Donald J. Trump and Hillary R. Clinton. Currently, candidates focus more on swing and battleground states to help them gain those electoral votes. "The National Popular Vote Plan." national popular vote plan pros and cons - shipoom.com 805 15th Street, NW, Suite 800 The Electoral College system - the way we really elect our president - has always had its detractors and lost even more public support after the 2016 election, when it became apparent that President-ElectDonald Trump might have lost the nationwide popular vote to Sec. A simple change in the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact could fix the flaw and still provide the benefits of a popular election. 2. 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. 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. Electoral College Alternatives: What Are the Other Options? - The Daily Dot Second, some believe itll intensify election problems, such as illegally extended voting hours or irregularly high voter turnout (Richards). Probably the NPV Compact would be enacted into law with as little as a simple majority of the states and possibly even less. This was the intent of the Founding Fathers. 10 Apr. A popular vote election takes all ballots that are cast, counts them, and declares the winner based on who received the most votes. 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. For more information, please see our (See: Electoral Votes by State). The Pros and Cons of the Electoral College - SmartAsset 15 states and Washington, D.C. have joined the National Popular Vote compact. Hillary Clinton, but won the electoral vote to become the 45thPresident of the United States. 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). Electoral College Pros and Cons - ThoughtCo April 8, 2016 National popular vote far better than Electoral College system for choosing presidents, Stanford professors say. 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. The appeal of NPV is the simplicity of its message. 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. As of December 2020, the bill has been fully adopted predominately by Democratic-majority blue states which delivered the 14 largest vote shares for Barack Obama in the 2012 Presidential Election. She graduated magna cum laude from Brandeis University with bachelor's degrees in creative writing, English/American literature and international studies. 48 Vitosha Boulevard, ground floor, 1000, Sofia, Bulgaria, Samploon, Inc. 2022.