National Popular Vote
On February 11, 2020, the Virginia House of Delegates passed the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC). This is an agreement among states to commit their respective Electoral College votes for President and Vice President to the candidates that win the national popular vote. In effect, the NPVIC neutralizes the two criticisms of the Constitution’s Electoral College method for electing a president.
The concentration of influence in states where electors are disproportionate to their population; and,
The subsequent ability for elections to be won by manipulation of swing states that practice the “winner-takes-all” option.
Winner-takes-all means that the candidate who wins the state’s popular vote gets all the electors and the other candidate gets none, even if the majority is 51%. The result has been that on five occasions, our President was elected without winning the popular vote and the votes for the candidate winning less than the majority in each winner-takes-all states were thrown out. It also has led to candidates and bad actors concentrating on influencing large states with “winner-takes-all electors” and ignoring everyone else.
NPVIC is an agreement among states that, regardless of which candidate won the majority of votes in one state, all the state’s electors would be dedicated to the winner of the national popular vote. This allows everyone’s vote to count. Yes, this is legal and Constitutional. The Constitution establishes the basis for each state’s share of Electoral College votes to be equal to the total number of Congressional representatives or House and Senate members. However, the Constitution leaves to each State’s legislature how they choose to use their electors to select a President.
Virginia has 13 Electoral College votes. The majority of Electoral College votes to win the Presidency is 270. At present the states joining the NPVIC control 196 electoral votes. Although the Senate failed to pass their bill, this was not the first time that the Virginia legislature attempted to pass the NPVIC and It’s likely to come up again. Below are sources of information on this solution to the complaints directed at the Electoral College.
Click here for more information on Virginia’s NPVIC
legislation:
Click here for more information on NPVIC
Click here for the endorsement by League of Women Voters:
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