More people live in urban regions, which means they would have a constant sway over the election. It is perhaps the most simplistic form of an election. 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. 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. This brings us to 196 of the 270 electoral votes needed to activate the pact. An individuals vote doesnt make a difference when it is counted against the votes of the delegates in the House of Representatives and Senate. Should that happen, then the final decision of who gets to serve as President of the United States is taken away from individual voters. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. Mayors, governors, and senators are all elected by a simple majority. Their vote only counts at the local level, not the national level, because of the electoral votes. That, in turn, would likely diminish voter turnout. Home| Government| Elections| Electoral College| Electoral College Pros And Cons. Washington, DC 20005, Common Cause pays tribute to our leader, our friend, and a lifelong advocate for our democracy, Constitution, Courts & Other Democracy Issues, Ensure Fair Districts & Reflective Democracy, Expand Voting Rights & Election Integrity, Promote Free Speech & Accountability in Media, Protect the Constitution, Courts & Other Democracy Reforms. Advantages and Disadvantages of the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact In the 2016 Presidential Election if the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact had been in effect the winner of the national popular vote, Hillary Clinton, would have become president instead of Donald Trump. There are a number of pros for this method. 1. Even though pre-election polls made conspicuous predictions of Hilary Clinton winning the presidency and . In a direct popular election, a candidate could theoretically win without having broad support throughout the country. That means every state is allowed a minimum of 3 electoral votes. Samploon is a database of free essay samples. 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. This feature is critical to the passionate bipartisan support the compact receives. The selection of presidential electors is specifically entrusted to the states by the Constitution. Analyzes how william c. kimberling, the deputy director of the federal election commission, is a credible author over the issue. 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 Privacy Policy. 1, 2023 at 1:16 PM PST. 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). Because every vote is equal inside Ohio or Florida, presidential candidates avidly seek out voters in small, medium, and large towns. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. Here are six reasons why legislators should reject this attempt to jettison our electoral system: 1. In the 2000 presidential election, Al Gore won the popular vote by more than 500,000 ballots, but George Bush became president by winning the Electoral College 271 to 266. The discussion around using the popular vote for elections has increased since the results of the 2016 election. 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? Here are the Cons of the Electoral College 1. Contributors control their own work and posted freely to our site. 6. (LogOut/ When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. 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. In a closely contested direct popular election, every precinct across the country might require close examination, rather than a handful of states or precincts. Cons of Electoral College. Part of HuffPost Politics. 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. But don't forget, Bush won the popular vote four years later by three million votes. A popular vote election takes all ballots that are cast, counts them, and declares the winner based on who received the most votes. The first advantage allows for electoral votes to be fairer than the Electoral College (Richards). Heres how. However, some critics argue that the advantages of a direct popular election including reflecting democratic principals, outweigh the disadvantages. That nightmare may seem like a pleasant dream if NPV has its way. 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. 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. With the polarization in global politics today, especially in the United States, a switch to the popular vote would likely increase costs even further. Would it aid a fight to eliminate first past the post or would it further entrench the established party system voters American voters have expressed disdain for. The electoral college leads to a heavy emphasis on swing states and also typically over-represents citizens in rural states. 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. I fear that most, if not all, of the states signing onto the NPV Compact will be just blue states. Definition and Examples. For more information, please see our 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. 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. The alternative view of democracy is more complex; it is one that includes but is not limited to the pursuit of equality. evergreen funeral home live stream. In U.S. history, the electoral college winner has failed to secure the popular vote 5 times. 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. 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. Wyoming had just 3 electoral votes, but only had 255,000 voters as well. The senators in the U.S. Senate make up two votes in addition to the votes that represent the number of its members in the U.S. House of Representatives (Archives). https://www.thoughtco.com/the-national-popular-vote-plan-3322047 (accessed March 4, 2023). Weve already seen this issue take place with the GOP primaries in 2016. Of the 538 Electoral College votes available, Donald J. Trump received 304 votes, Hillary Clinton received 227 votes, and seven votes went to others: three for Colin Powell, one for Faith Spotted Eagle, one for John Kasich, one for Ron Paul, and one for Bernie Sanders). This advance is referred to as the winner-take-all approach. The Electoral College system, however imperfect, serves this broader view of democracy. HuffPost's top politics stories, straight to your inbox. The compact is designed to ensure that the candidate who receives the most votes nationwide is elected president, and it . E pluribus unum -- out of many, one. ashburnham school committee; its his baby now political cartoon meaning; softstar primal sawyer 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. Change). Less would get done, which would affect the needs of households at the local level. This type of system would give the individual voter a much more significant influence. June 7, 2022 . Rural voters would almost always be in the minority. However, many people believe that a direct popular election is more democratic and fair than the Electoral College. 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. 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 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 current structure of presidential elections in the U.S., the states become a battleground of red states vs. blue states. Others may struggle to meet higher than expected voter turnout levels. 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.. what connection type is known as "always on"? 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. 5. It is not at all clear that it would similarly prosper under the direct election regime being pushed by NPV. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. 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. 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. 41 States (with 80% of U.S. population) will be Ignored in the 2024 Presidential Election. (See: Electoral Votes by State). It would limit the influence of local issues in the election. The NPVIC is an agreement among states designed to guarantee election of the presidential candidate who wins the most popular votes in the 50 states and Washington, D.C. NPV is grounded in two powers delegated to states by the Constitution: the power to design rules for awarding their electoral votes and the power to enter into interstate All samples were added by students. The votes of those who do not live in closely divided battleground states effectively count less. The Electoral College is made up of 538 electors and a majority of 270 electoral votes is mandatory to nominate the President. 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. 7. It would reduce diversity in the election structures. 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. Under the Electoral College system, voters in states that are overwhelmingly in support of one candidate might feel like their vote is unimportant. It awards all the bonus votes to the winner of the popular vote. 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. The candidate who placed second in the popular vote was elected in 2016, 2000, 1888, 1876, and 1824. Donald Trump won the presidential election by securing 304 electoral votes, compared to Hillary Clintons 227 electoral votes. Proponents of the National Popular Vote fail to understand the most basic facts about the American presidential electoral system. 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. Under the system of proportional representation, any party with a high enough percentage of the vote will receive a seat in the government. 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. As a result, the bill will take effect when enacted by states possessing an additional 74 electoral votes. 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. 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. The National Popular Vote Bill is not a Democrat or Republican bill. 48 Vitosha Boulevard, ground floor, 1000, Sofia, Bulgaria, Samploon, Inc. 2022. A candidate may not have to concentrate anymore, but they may have to move their attention to states such as Texas, New York, California, and Alaska. 2. The National Bonus Plan maintains the Electoral College voting system but adds 102 bonus electoral votes to the existing 538 votes. Moving to the popular vote structure would eliminate this potential issue. And that would undermine the legitimacy of the NPV among those people. A Critique of the National Popular Vote October 13, 2008 Policy Analysis No. Disadvantages of the NPV Interstate Compact. Lastly, it may cause a third-party candidate to prevail and win, which would allow Americans to be given more choices besides the two primary parties (Richards). Dont know what Ranked Choice Voting is? amazon web services address herndon va custom airbrush spray tan near me custom airbrush spray tan near me cons of the national popular vote plan. In 2016, Gary Johnson received 4.48 million votes and 0 electoral votes, but the potential is always there for this to happen. In Maine, both houses of the legislature passed the bill in 2019, but it failed at the final enactment step. If this happens many people in the red states will not feel that the change is legitimate even if its legal and technically constitutional. 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. As a result, an agreement between a group of states to cast all of their electoral votes in a similar manner, as proposed by the National Popular Vote plan passes constitutional muster. Electoral votes are designated among the states based on Census. 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. This was the intent of the Founding Fathers. 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. 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. Con:not Eliminate possibility that loser of the popular vote can still win the electoral vote The Proportional Plan A proposed reform where each presidential candidate would receive the percent of electoral votes that they win from each state Proportional Plan Pro:Possible for loser of popular vote to win presidency. Proportional Plan 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. F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush were elected with less than a majority of the votes cast. This National Popular Vote Compact wouldn't take effect until states with 270 electors a majority joined in. 3. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz often split about 60% of the GOP vote, which allowed Donald Trump to win early primaries with 35% of the vote. The plan would not get rid of the Electoral College. 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 . Yes. More attention is given to the swing states, such as Florida and Iowa, which causes the third problem the Electoral College can cause. 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. 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. 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. In the case of a tie, there are contingencies in place to determine which person will serve in the elected office. tobin james the blend 2017 ; real estate marketing solutions; cons of the national popular vote plan; lassi kefalonia shops cons of the national popular vote plan The National Popular Vote initiative transpired in 2006. pros and cons." dave leip's atlas of u.s. presidential elections. a plan for a national popular vote could undermine the . 1. 15 states and Washington, D.C. have joined the National Popular Vote compact. Maryland and New Jersey passed this bill in 2007, Hawaii and Illinois in 2008, Washington in 2009, Massachusetts and the District of Columbia in 2010, California and Vermont in 2011, Rhode Island in 2013, New York in 2014 and Connecticut in 2018. Our experts will write for you an essay on any topic, with any deadline and requirements from scratch, Electoral College and National Popular Vote Pros and Cons. And that would lead to chaos in how political parties campaign for president and could also undermine the legitimacy of the process. 8. Join the thousands across the country who instantly rally when there is a threat to our democracy. Candidates feel they either cant win or lose with the votes from these states. (2020, December 16). The National Popular Vote plan would eliminate what critics of the Electoral College system point to as the "winner-take-all" rule - the awarding all of a state's electoral votes to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in that state. State Question 820 lays out a statutory framework for a recreational industry that would begin about 90 days after election results are certified. America is known to have the costliest, prolonged, and complicated structure when electing a head of state. 4. 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. Lastly, the biggest problem that the Electoral College produces is the reality that a persons vote really doesnt matter (Black). 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. Hillary Clinton, but won the electoral vote to become the 45thPresident of the United 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. The National Popular Vote bill will take effect when enacted into law by states possessing 270 electoral votes a majority of the current 538 electoral votes. At that stage, anyone who received an electoral vote is eligible to become the next president. Under the Electoral College/Winner-Take-All system votes in small states, like Wyoming or Delaware count double what votes in large states like California or Texas. 1. The bill has passed one chamber in 12 additional states with 96 electoral votes. Probably the NPV Compact would be enacted into law with as little as a simple majority of the states and possibly even less. 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. National Popular Vote will create a single member district (all 50 states and D.C.), where the candidate with the most votes wins and . The first problem it creates is the opportunity for the loser of the popular vote to win the electoral vote. Would you like to get a custom essay? Note: Today we are in a phase where the popular vote in presidential elections leans Democratic. And thats not how it should be in a democracy. The NPV Interstate Compact does not eliminate the very complicated Electoral College system that most voters dont really understand. 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. In 2016, Florida had 29 electoral votes and 9.4 million voters, created a voter value of 0.72. Published: Mar. The one-vote approach does not align with the way the electoral votes operates. A popular vote structure would virtually eliminate the idea of a third-party candidate having a chance in an election. It knows that a majoritarianism that produces a plurality is not the voice of a majority of the citizenry. The advantage of this system is that it preserves the preferences of. Instead, each state and Washington D.C. is assigned a certain number of electoral votes based on its population. However, in the popular vote, Trump only received 62,984,825 votes against Hillary Clinton's 65,853,516 popular votes. 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. 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.