It is not even a liberal or conservative bill. Get breaking news and updates from Common Cause. There would be fewer opportunities to illegally alter the results of an election. 5. Here are the Cons of the Electoral College 1. and our Although the 20th Amendment to the Constitution provides clarity to this situation, that process is based on the electoral college. National Popular Vote compact pros and cons. In the 2016 election, only 58 percent of eligible voters went to the polls. The second advantage is that the all votes would be equally weighed (Richards). Using a popular vote system, candidates could campaign regionally, targeting major areas of support, to secure enough votes to win an election. 1. Since the Constitution and the Bill of Rights became governing documents in the United States, there have only been 17 amendments made to it. An electoral college would solve . 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. This brings us to 196 of the 270 (73%) electoral votes needed to activate the pact just 74 votes away. The official 2016 election results from the Electoral College gave Donald J. Trump the victory with 306 electoral votes v. Hillary Clinton's 232 votes. 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. 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. The National Bonus Plan maintains the Electoral College voting system but adds 102 bonus electoral votes to the existing 538 votes. That created a voter value of 2.85. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. 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 Because a direct election would be, by definition, national and resource allocation would be overwhelmingly dominated by paid television advertising, there would be little impetus for grass-roots activity. For example: States already have the power to award their electors to the winner of the national popular vote, although this would be disadvantageous to the state that did so unless it was joined simultaneously by other states that represent a majority of electoral votes. cons of the national popular vote planchicago religious demographics. Voters in spectator states, including five of the nations 10 most populous states (California, Texas, New York, Illinois, and New Jersey), and 12 of the 13 least populous states (all but New Hampshire) have no real incentive to go to the polls as their votes do not affect the outcome of the election. How the US Electoral College System Works, Biography of Donald Trump, 45th President of the United States, What Is Statutory Law? Cons of Electoral College. The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC) is an agreement among states and the District of Columbia to award their respective electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote of the presidential election. 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. The compact is designed to ensure that the candidate who receives the most votes nationwide is elected president, and it . The country thinks we are going to elect the president using the Electoral College/Winner-Take-All system tans and then four months before the election we change to the National Popular Vote Compact system and elect the president by whoever gets the most popular votes. The first advantage allows for electoral votes to be fairer than the Electoral College (Richards). That effectively means that votes in the the 75% of the country that are in swing states effectively dont count at all. Is the National Popular Vote Plan Constitutional? NCSL conducts policy research in areas ranging from agriculture and budget and tax issues to education and health care to immigration and transportation. Lastly, the biggest problem that the Electoral College produces is the reality that a persons vote really doesnt matter (Black). 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. http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/. And thats not how it should be in a democracy. The time to stop its momentum is now. Under the current structure of presidential elections in the U.S., the states become a battleground of red states vs. blue states. Candidates feel these states need a little bit more of their attention and apply pressure to supply these states with solutions to their problems in order to gain their vote. The framers enacted the provisions relating to the Electoral College to allow for state innovation. Bush and Al Gore (Black). 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 bill has passed one chamber in 12 additional states with 96 electoral votes. It would eliminate superfluous votes. The alternative view of democracy is more complex; it is one that includes but is not limited to the pursuit of equality. 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. The pros and cons of the popular vote structure of an election allow for the majority to have their say in who they wish to serve. A switch to the popular vote would eliminate the concept of a battleground state because the issue would be more on issues than states. It is not at all clear that it would similarly prosper under the direct election regime being pushed by NPV. Currently, candidates focus more on swing and battleground states to help them gain those electoral votes. All other elections in the U.S. are through the popular vote. In fact, let's tally up all the votes cast for president between 1932 and 2008. Opines that the national popular vote plan is the wrong way to abolith the electoral college. "The National Popular Vote Plan." Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. 2. 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. Bosque de Palabras The electoral requires that an election which does not receive a majority of electoral votes be taken into the U.S. House of Representatives. Imperfect, because its modern-day blessings -- enhancing coalition building, pluralism, federalism and grass-roots participation -- are enjoyed only by a minority of states (in any given presidential election 18 or 20), where the battle for electoral votes is competitive for both major parties. It would reduce the influence of third parties on the U.S. presidential election. That means every state is allowed a minimum of 3 electoral votes. You can use essay samples to find ideas and inspiration for your paper. 5. Learn more about how the National Popular Vote compact works and the ways it could make our elections better for everyone. Electing a president who did not have broad regional support could lead to a fractured and less cohesive country, according to the Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. 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 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. Thats a bank of about 14 million potential voters that reliably vote as a majority for Democratic candidates. There are a number of pros for this method. Pros & Cons of a National Popular Vote Buy Complete Issue $19.95 Login or Subscribe The National Popular Vote How would the interstate compact work? 2. The Constitution specifically leaves details like how the electoral votes are cast up to the states. More people live in urban regions, which means they would have a constant sway over the election. National Popular Vote values rural and urban voters equally. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Instead of a direct popular election, the United States has the Electoral College, a group of electors who represent each state's votes. That means the cost of counting all the votes would be duplicated. If a party knows either that it can't win a single elector in a state or has an easy road to winning all of them, it sends its resources to where it has a competitive chance.. Nevada passed the legislation in 2019, but Gov. Thats how politics works in America. And in all states but Maine and Nebraska, the candidate who receives the most votes in that state is awarded all of its electoral votes, whether the split is 51% to 49% or 99% to 1%. Richards earned a master's degree at Carnegie Mellon University. Their answer is simple: one in which every citizen's vote is equal to every other citizen's vote and one in which the winner of the presidential popular vote, no matter how small his or her percentage is of those who voted, would be elected. The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC) is an agreement among a group of U.S. states and the District of Columbia to award all their electoral votes to whichever presidential ticket wins the overall popular vote in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. . Even the minority party wouldnt be encouraged to negotiate because they could simply stall until the next election. Some states, such as California and Hawaii, both had their bills vetoed by their governors before it was overridden and enacted by state legislators. When a popular vote is held for a national office, the election becomes more about platform issues than local issues. It would limit the influence of local issues in the election. Constitutional Amendment to Guarantee the Right to Vote for All U.S. Citizens. 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. It fails to reach the ideal of one-person one-vote. Ken Bickers. Steve Sisolak vetoed it. It makes things easier for extreme parties to gain representation. However, a popular vote system, although hard to implement, is a more purely democratic system than the Electoral College. But sometime in the future the popular vote will change back and lean Republican. By continuing well assume youre on board with our, https://samploon.com/electoral-college-and-national-popular-vote-pros-and-cons/, Select a writer from a large pool of experts. The National Bonus Plan was proposed by historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. In U.S. history, there has been one vice-presidential candidate who died after being nominated and one that withdrew from their partys ticket. After all, the Electoral College makes it possible that a candidate who wins the majority of the votes could still lose the election. The popular vote eliminates this issue too. That principle should be expanded to presidential elections. 1. But NPV could force our electors to disregard the wishes of the . It knows that a majoritarianism that produces a plurality is not the voice of a majority of the citizenry. 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. Over the years, the National Popular Vote bill has been introduced in the legislatures of all 50 states. The votes of those who do not live in closely divided battleground states effectively count less. But in practice it could happen every 10 or 20 years when the Electoral College votes change because the congressional boundaries change with the new population census. Heres how. It awards all the bonus votes to the winner of the popular vote. A Critique of the National Popular Vote October 13, 2008 Policy Analysis No. Definition and Examples, Learn How Many Total Electoral Votes There Are. Either would likely produce an electoral vote count closer to the popular vote. National Popular Vote Plan page 3 that non-member states that fail to hold such elections will not be included in the determination of 'the national popular vote winner.' This sidesteps the problem and provides an incentive for all states (non-members as well as members) to (continue to) hold such elections. Rural voters would almost always be in the minority. A majority of 270 electoral votes is required to elect the president. The danger of NPV is that it will undermine the complex and vital underpinnings of American democracy. The issue raised by the National Popular Vote campaign is fundamental: What kind of a democracy should America be? An individuals vote doesnt make a difference when it is counted against the votes of the delegates in the House of Representatives and Senate. 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. 10 Apr. If that was to take place, America could potentially face the same issues it is facing now. every decade states are redistricted could be redrawn to capture house seats and corrupt the Presidential election But don't forget, Bush won the popular vote four years later by three million votes. Presidential candidates have no reason to poll, visit, advertise, organize, or campaign in states that they cannot possibly win or lose; in 2016, 68% of presidential campaign visits took place in just six states. The last amendment, the 27th Amendment to the Constitution, was ratified nearly 200 years after it was originally proposed. This has occurred in 5 of the nation's 56 presidential elections, most recently in 2016. Actually the NPV Compact doesnt change one word in he Constitution and in fact only changes state laws. Going to the popular vote would eliminate this issue altogether. The candidate who placed second in the popular vote was elected in 2016, 2000, 1888, 1876, and 1824. That means a candidate who receives a majority of their votes in a high-delegate state, such as California, could make a dramatic impact on the rest of the election. Join the thousands across the country who instantly rally when there is a threat to our democracy. A plan to enact the National Popular Vote was introduced in the Michigan Legislature on Wednesday. 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. It gives more voting power to individual voters in smaller states. When you cast your ballot, you're not actually voting directly for your favored presidential candidate. 15 states and Washington, D.C. have joined the National Popular Vote compact. National Popular Vote (NPV) was founded in 2006 by lottery scratch-card inventor John Koza and election lawyer Barry Fadem to lobby for an "interstate compact" for states to deliver their electoral votes for President to the "winner" of the national popular vote. 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. This brings us to 196 of the 270 electoral votes needed to activate the pact. Even if states impose fines on faithless electors for their actions, it is not a guarantee that the behavior will stop. 805 15th Street, NW, Suite 800 Though the original, some would say highly undemocratic, purpose. 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. 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. In theory we could change how we elect our president every four years. 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. It has been enacted by twelve states, which include Rhode Island, Vermont, Hawaii, the District of Columbia, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Washington, New Jersey, Illinois, New York, and California. The discussion around using the popular vote for elections has increased since the results of the 2016 election. Explains kimberling, william c., and dave leip's . America is known to have the costliest, prolonged, and complicated structure when electing a head of state. It happened once, in 1876. Make a contribution to support Common Cause today. However, in the popular vote, Trump only received 62,984,825 votes against Hillary Clinton's 65,853,516 popular votes. It would reduce diversity in the election structures. Where the National Popular Vote Plan Stands. According to the Constitution, the Electoral College is a compromise between election of the President by a vote in Congress and election of the President by a popular vote of qualified citizens (National Archives). It would eliminate the threat of a faithless elector. More attention is given to the swing states, such as Florida and Iowa, which causes the third problem the Electoral College can cause. 4. As the National Popular Vote (NPV) movement steps up its effort to impose a direct election for president, attempting to enlist states with a sufficient number of electors to constitute a majority (268) and to bind them to the winner of the national popular vote, those states considering the proposal might first reflect on the nightmare aftermath of the 2000 presidential election. 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. Proponents of the National Popular Vote fail to understand the most basic facts about the American presidential electoral system. Candidates feel they either cant win or lose with the votes from these states. This feature is critical to the passionate bipartisan support the compact receives. 5. Because its so hard to get an amendment to the Constitution passed that means that once it becomes law it will probably remain so for a long time because the bar to change it back is so high. 8. NCSL's experts are here to answer your questions and give you unbiased, comprehensive information as soon as you need it on issues facing state legislatures. 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. The lack of competition and campaigning in a majority of states owes itself not to the existence of the Electoral College's indirect method of choosing presidents but rather to the winner-take-all method of choosing electors in all but two states. 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. Retrieved from https://samploon.com/electoral-college-and-national-popular-vote-pros-and-cons/, Should the Electoral College Be Abolished, Pros for The Electoral College in the United States, Electoral College is Undemocratic but We Have no Better System, The Electoral College Should Be Terminated, The Electoral College Annotated Bibliography. It is perhaps the most simplistic form of an election. 2. 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. Only Nebraska and Maine do not. 4. 1. 9. 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. Battleground states would disappear in U.S. elections. By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. 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). 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. But the national popular vote plan doesn't require a . For under its plan, the next time the U.S. has very close national vote, a recount would not be of six million votes in one state but of more than 130 million votes in all states and the District of Columbia, all with their own rules for conducting a recount. It would reduce the threshold necessary to win the office. The states' approval of the compact is a victory for democracy and the principle of "one person, one vote." 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. To become president of the United States of America, you must be at least 35 years old, have lived in the U.S. for at least 14 years and be a natural-born citizen. Candidates get one vote for every congressional district they win, and then two votes for winning the state-wide vote. I fear that most, if not all, of the states signing onto the NPV Compact will be just blue states. A popular vote election would bring the presidential election in line with the rest of the election structures. She graduated magna cum laude from Brandeis University with bachelor's degrees in creative writing, English/American literature and international studies. If this happens many people in the red states will not feel that the change is legitimate even if its legal and technically constitutional. Right now, the President of the United States is not elected by a popular vote. Even though pre-election polls made conspicuous predictions of Hilary Clinton winning the presidency and . However, some critics argue that the advantages of a direct popular election including reflecting democratic principals, outweigh the disadvantages. It sees a healthy and vibrant democracy needing the underpinnings of civil society that rests on the sustained and active engagement of the citizenry and promotes approaches that seek to maximize that involvement. Probably the NPV Compact would be enacted into law with as little as a simple majority of the states and possibly even less. A simple change in the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact could fix the flaw and still provide the benefits of a popular election. Cookie Notice Each vote would affect each candidate instead of being overlooked due to which state those votes would be coming from. That would give the Compact states only 3 days( and two of those days were weekend days) to certify their state votes. Yes. 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. Politicians would focus on fewer swing states (Bigger states more potential votes) Note: Today we are in a phase where the popular vote in presidential elections leans Democratic. Less would get done, which would affect the needs of households at the local level. 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. Inicio; Nota Biografica; Obra; Blogs. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. pros and cons." dave leip's atlas of u.s. presidential elections. If you need to flag this entry as abusive. Also the NPV Compact allows states to withdraw from the compact as late as four months before an election. The National Popular Vote (NPV) refers to the concept of allocating a state's presidential electors to the candidate who receives the most votes nationwide regardless of the state results in a presidential election. The official 2016 election results from the Electoral College gave Donald J. Trump the victory with 306 electoral votes v. Hillary Clinton's 232 votes. 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 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. Here is the entire text of the proposed "Agreement Among the States to Elect the President by National Popular Vote." Tweet Email this More on The Electoral College: Honorable Steve Cohen For example, if a state used NPV and voted for candidate A, but candidate B received the most votes nationwide, the state would allocate its presidential electors to candidate B. 1. Around six-in-ten U.S. adults (63%) say the way the president is elected should be changed so that the winner of the popular vote nationwide wins the presidency, while 35% favor keeping the current Electoral College system, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted June 27-July 4, 2022. It could encourage voter turnout. This has occurred in only four of the 58 presidential . The appeal of NPV is the simplicity of its message. Definition and Examples. April 8, 2016 National popular vote far better than Electoral College system for choosing presidents, Stanford professors say. Rebekah Richards is a professional writer with work published in the "Atlanta Journal-Constitution," "Brandeis University Law Journal" and online at tolerance.org. Although moving to a popular vote election would balance the weight of each vote, it would also create more sway in larger population states. The NPV Interstate Compact does not eliminate the very complicated Electoral College system that most voters dont really understand. There are alternatives to winner-take-all that do not involve abandoning the positive aspects of the Electoral College. June 7, 2022 . Cons: Smaller states don't get as much of a say and people would demand a national recount National Bonus Plan Winner of popular vote gets extra 102 electoral votes Pros: No winner of popular vote losing overall Cons: Basically exactly like the Direct plan District Plan Win popular vote in each district, you get one electoral vote. The bill has crossed paths with 36 legislative chambers and has been sponsored or voted for by 3,112 state legislators (National Popular Vote). amazon web services address herndon va custom airbrush spray tan near me custom airbrush spray tan near me Instead, each state and Washington D.C. is assigned a certain number of electoral votes based on its population. 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. . 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).
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