2. Here are the Cons of the Electoral College 1. 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. Learn more about how the National Popular Vote compact works and the ways it could make our elections better for everyone. 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. If some of the 50 states and DC cannot certify their popular votes by the December deadline that could create a constitutional crisis where we would not have all of the state Electoral College votes certified by the time the Electoral College is required to vote according to the Constitution. The popular vote eliminates this issue too. The danger of NPV is that it will undermine the complex and vital underpinnings of American democracy. The National Bonus Plan was proposed by historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. 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. cons of the national popular vote plansuper lemon haze greenhouse. In 2004, for example, candidates George W. Bush and John Kerry campaigned heavily in states such as Nevada while ignoring political issues in New York, a state that Kerry was sure to win, according to the University of the Pacific. The Supreme Court has said in local and state elections voting should be based on the principle of one person one vote. And thats not how it should be in a democracy. We have seen this outcome in the 2016 Presidential election between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump and in the 2000 election between George H.W. 2015. It gives more voting power to individual voters in smaller states. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. A candidate can win the popular vote in enough states to win a majority of electoral votes but still lose the popular vote nationally. Do you have information you want to share with HuffPost. Each states electoral votes are tallied by Congress in the House chamber by House and Senate representatives on the 6th day of January following the Presidential election. Unexpected emergencies would be difficult to handle. Some areas may bend the rules of an election by extending voting hours illegally. In fact, let's tally up all the votes cast for president between 1932 and 2008. But the biggest problem with changing how we elect our president using the NPV Compact is that its too easy to change it back. Join the thousands across the country who instantly rally when there is a threat to our democracy. NCSL conducts policy research in areas ranging from agriculture and budget and tax issues to education and health care to immigration and transportation. Under the system of proportional representation, any party with a high enough percentage of the vote will receive a seat in the government. That would increase the amount of polarization being experienced in politics today because there would be less of a need to compromise. In the 2016 election, only 58 percent of eligible voters went to the polls. Regional candidates could secure enough votes to win a national election. There would be fewer opportunities to illegally alter the results of an election. 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. That means some voters, like Republicans in California or Democrats in Mississippi, are voting without power and without attention from their preferred candidates each year. The Electoral College distorts presidential campaigns . Because every vote is equal inside Ohio or Florida, presidential candidates avidly seek out voters in small, medium, and large towns. what connection type is known as "always on"? More people live in urban regions, which means they would have a constant sway over the election. Electoral votes are designated among the states based on Census. Published: Mar. 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. And that would undermine the legitimacy of the NPV among those people. 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. 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. Because of the winner-take-all rule, a candidate can be elected president without winning the most popular votes nationwide. 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. Get breaking news and updates from Common Cause. Home| Government| Elections| Electoral College| Electoral College Pros And Cons. Secondly, it creates a minimalist depiction in the minds of the candidate towards more than 40 states. Start and finish your paper with ease. 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 Electoral College is very undemocratic and riddled with issues. However, in the popular vote, Trump only received 62,984,825 votes against Hillary Clinton's 65,853,516 popular votes. a plan for a national popular vote could undermine the . Explains kimberling, william c., and dave leip's . 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. 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. It is our national motto and is so for a reason. This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. N.p., n.d. Under the current structure of the electoral college, the focus of a presidential campaign is on the so-called battleground states. How the US Electoral College System Works, Biography of Donald Trump, 45th President of the United States, What Is Statutory Law? The electoral college encourages a two-party system and rewards candidates who have broad appeal. 3. First it would be relatively easy to implement. The last amendment, the 27th Amendment to the Constitution, was ratified nearly 200 years after it was originally proposed. 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. Because of the state Winner-Take-All rules, which arent even part of the Constitution, they can lead to presidential elections where the winner of the election doesnt have the most popular votes. For the popular vote, however, Hillary Clinton received 65.8 million votes, while Donald Trump received 62.9 million votes. The country could become less stable and divided if he or she did not have a vast amount of support (Richards). Should that happen, then the final decision of who gets to serve as President of the United States is taken away from individual voters. That nightmare may seem like a pleasant dream if NPV has its way. Longley, Robert. A popular vote election would bring the presidential election in line with the rest of the election structures. 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. With a popular vote in place, each election win would be decreed a mandate to follow the platform of the winning party. The advantage of this system is that it preserves the preferences of. Currently, candidates focus more on swing and battleground states to help them gain those electoral votes. Just another site cons of the national popular vote plan . It makes things easier for extreme parties to gain representation. Every state is allocated several votes according to the number of senators and representatives in its U.S. Congressional delegation. cons of the national popular vote plan. Today the Democrats want to replace the Electoral College/Winner-Take-All system with a direct popular vote and the Republicans adamantly want to keep it. Lincoln Chafee (D) made his state the latest to sign on. 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. A direct popular election also ensures that citizens' votes have equal weight. To date, the bill has passed at least one legislative chamber in 9 states possessing 82 combined electoral votes: AR, AZ, ME, MI, MN, NC, NV, OK, and OR. The amendment requires that any change to the rate of compensation for members of Congress can only take effect after a subsequent election in the House of Representatives. 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. Definition and Examples, Learn How Many Total Electoral Votes There Are. Maine and Nebraska are the only two states that are not affected by this approach. It happened once, in 1876. An electoral college would solve . But if some non-member People are moving to live in like-minded communities more than ever before. [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.]. When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. Under the electoral college system, the candidates which receive the most votes in each state (or district) receive its assigned electoral votes. Cookie Notice Then, election officials in all participating states would choose the electors sworn to support thepresidential candidate who received the largest number of popular votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. A plan to enact the National Popular Vote was introduced in the Michigan Legislature on Wednesday. I fear that most, if not all, of the states signing onto the NPV Compact will be just blue states. 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. For more information, please see our Bush and Al Gore (Black). This was the intent of the Founding Fathers. It has been enacted into law in 11 states with 165 electoral votes, and will take effect when enacted by states with 105 more. Candidates get one vote for every congressional district they win, and then two votes for winning the state-wide vote. 622 By John Samples The National Popular Vote plan (NPV), introduced in more than 40 states, and adopted. and our 13 Early College High School Pros and Cons, 18 Major Advantages and Disadvantages of the Payback Period, 20 Advantages and Disadvantages of Leasing a Car, 19 Advantages and Disadvantages of Debt Financing, 24 Key Advantages and Disadvantages of a C Corporation, 16 Biggest Advantages and Disadvantages of Mediation, 18 Advantages and Disadvantages of a Gated Community, 17 Big Advantages and Disadvantages of Focus Groups, 17 Key Advantages and Disadvantages of Corporate Bonds, 19 Major Advantages and Disadvantages of Annuities, 17 Biggest Advantages and Disadvantages of Advertising.