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It would reduce diversity in the election structures. Some areas may bend the rules of an election by extending voting hours illegally. Resource allocation would be focused on paid advertising, which would negate the need for grassroots activities. 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. 5. That view of democracy recognizes the existence and desirability of organized interests and enshrines that principle under the concept of pluralism. That created a voter value of 2.85. Definition and Examples. A popular vote election would bring the presidential election in line with the rest of the election structures. 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 that join the NPV Compact will not be able to certify their Electoral College Votes until all 50 states and DC certify their state popular votes and any mandated/requested recounts since the Compact state ECVs are dependent on the winner of the national popular vote and not just their own state popular votes. In 2016, Florida had 29 electoral votes and 9.4 million voters, created a voter value of 0.72. Many Americans are confused about how a win is obtained under these conditions and are on a quest to change this traditional statute. 8. Activating the National Popular Vote compact would reshape our . How the US Electoral College System Works, Biography of Donald Trump, 45th President of the United States, What Is Statutory Law? Published: Mar. The election is held every four years on the first Tuesday in November and prior to election day, the two candidates endure state-level primaries, caucuses, debates, and conventions. Nevada passed the legislation in 2019, but Gov. A candidate could be elected without the popular vote. HuffPost's top politics stories, straight to your inbox. In countries where the concept of popular votes is in place, every vote has an equal weight regarding the election outcome. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. The cost of a presidential election in the United States is already several billion dollars. June 7, 2022 . The framers enacted the provisions relating to the Electoral College to allow for state innovation. "The National Popular Vote Plan." Wyoming had just 3 electoral votes, but only had 255,000 voters as well. But NPV could force our electors to disregard the wishes of the . 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 . (LogOut/ Definition and Examples, How Political Party Convention Delegates are Chosen, What Is a Caucus? Currently, 48 of the 50 states follow the winner-take-all rule. 1. Learn more about how the National Popular Vote compact works and the ways it could make our elections better for everyone. 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. As of July 2020, a National Popular Vote bill has been signed into law in 16 states controlling a total of 196 electoral votes, including 4 small states, 8 medium-sized states, 3 big states (California, Illinois, and New York), and the District of Columbia. A plan to enact the National Popular Vote was introduced in the Michigan Legislature on Wednesday. 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 country could become less stable and divided if he or she did not have a vast amount of support (Richards). But if we set politics aside and focus on what is really best for democracy in our country in the long run I believe that the advantages of using the NPV compact to elect our president outweigh the disadvantages and the best way to elect our president in the 21st century is by direct popular vote using Ranked Choice Voting. It makes things easier for extreme parties to gain representation. Today, the fact that Nebraska and Maine do not use the winner-take-all system serves as proof that modifying the Electoral College system, as proposed by the National Popular Vote plan is constitutional and does not require a constitutional amendment. Similarly, because a national campaign mandates a national message, there would also be a smaller incentive for coalition-building or taking into account the characteristics, needs and desires of citizens in differing states and regions. 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. 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. pros and cons." dave leip's atlas of u.s. presidential elections. In contrast, in a direct popular election, each vote matters equally. 4. The Electoral College is made up of 538 electors and a majority of 270 electoral votes is mandatory to nominate the President. 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. All in all, the Electoral College causes many problems that seem unfair to American voters during such an important election. The winner would receive all of the compact states electoral votes, giving them at least the necessary 270 to win the White House. In addition, the bill has been unanimously approved at the committee level in the states of Georgia and Missouri, controlling a combined 27 electoral votes. The years-old effort is slowly making its way through state legislatures in hopes of changing the way The only election in the United States which is not governed by the popular vote is the presidential election. Lawmakers discuss plan to enact National Popular Vote in Michigan. Also the NPV Compact allows states to withdraw from the compact as late as four months before an election. That could lead to a very bad situation where, instead of the people voting in November to determine who the next president is, one or two states could effectively decide who becomes the next president simply by joining or withdrawing from the NPV Compact and changing the rules on how the votes for president are counted in the next election. One of the biggest reasons why voters dont vote is because they feel like their vote doesnt count. Either would likely produce an electoral vote count closer to the popular vote. 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. Every state is allocated several votes according to the number of senators and representatives in its U.S. Congressional delegation. But if some non-member This type of system would give the individual voter a much more significant influence. It could encourage voter turnout. The winner would receive one vote per congressional district won with the winner of the state popular vote gaining a two electoral 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 Steve Sisolak vetoed it. Is this a solution to first past the post or is it merely reinforcing our current two party system? They have only won the popular vote once. But with the NPV Compact a change in party control of just one or two states could restore the old system of electing the president and then four years later it could be changed back. Under the plan, Michigan's 15 Electoral . In states with large population centers, individual voters have less power than voters in smaller states. 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. Regional candidates could secure enough votes to win a national election. Currently, the National Popular Vote bill has 172 electoral votes. You can use essay samples to find ideas and inspiration for your paper. In the early 19th century, many states ratified an approach that would allow the candidate with the most votes in that state to be the winner. 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. 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. This would happen in the extremely unlikely situation where this candidate would win just for one vote in some . It could help to reduce partisanship. A close election would trigger the need for a full recount. Many cities and school districts, under threat of a lawsuit by a Malibu attorney, have already adopted or are in the process of changing to district elections rather than remaining citywide or . I fear that most, if not all, of the states signing onto the NPV Compact will be just blue states. 2015. The electoral college leads to a heavy emphasis on swing states and also typically over-represents citizens in rural states. That is hardly a mandate for governing, though it would be taken as such. 3. ThoughtCo, Dec. 16, 2020, thoughtco.com/the-national-popular-vote-plan-3322047. For the 7 presidential elections between 1992-2016, the Republican candidate has won the Electoral college 3 times. Lincoln Chafee (D) made his state the latest to sign on. How Many Electoral Votes Does a Candidate Need to Win? And thats not how it should be in a democracy. And thats not how it should be in a democracy. Since 2008, 15 states and the District of Columbia have passed laws to adopt the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC), which is an multi-state agreement to commit electors to. 3. Thats how politics works in America. Mayors, governors, and senators are all elected by a simple majority. 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). Over the years, the National Popular Vote bill has been introduced in the legislatures of all 50 states. The appeal of NPV is the simplicity of its message. In a direct popular election, a candidate could theoretically win without having broad support throughout the country. Watch out! National Popular Vote will create a single member district (all 50 states and D.C.), where the candidate with the most votes wins and . [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.]. 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. This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. But don't forget, Bush won the popular vote four years later by three million votes. Many people may feel that any major change in how we elect the president should be in the Constitution and not in a legal loop hole even if its legal and technically constitutional. 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. 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. 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 issue raised by the National Popular Vote campaign is fundamental: What kind of a democracy should America be? "The National Popular Vote bill would guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in the entire U.S. 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. 2. 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. There are pros and cons to both systems. However, in the popular vote, Trump only received 62,984,825 votes against Hillary Clinton's 65,853,516 popular votes. Rebekah Richards is a professional writer with work published in the "Atlanta Journal-Constitution," "Brandeis University Law Journal" and online at tolerance.org. Explains kimberling, william c., and dave leip's . The National Popular Vote initiative transpired in 2006. Less would get done, which would affect the needs of households at the local level. More people live in urban regions, which means they would have a constant sway over the election. The United States does not have direct election of its president, yet most national, state and local offices are filled by the candidate with the most votes. The winner-take-all rule is not required by the Constitution and was actually used by only three states in the nation's first presidential election in 1789. Right now, the President of the United States is not elected by a popular vote. 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. 805 15th Street, NW, Suite 800 Would you like to get a custom essay? 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. In theory that could happen every four years. Do you have information you want to share with HuffPost? If that was to take place, America could potentially face the same issues it is facing now. 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. Two-thirds of the campaign events were in four states, Florida, Iowa, Virginia, and Ohio, that year. America is known to have the costliest, prolonged, and complicated structure when electing a head of state. However, many people believe that a direct popular election is more democratic and fair than the Electoral College. Currently, candidates focus more on swing and battleground states to help them gain those electoral votes. It would eliminate the threat of a faithless elector. Yet, by May 2021, 15 states and Washington, D.C., had signed onto the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. on Advantages and Disadvantages of the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, Follow All U.S. Citizens Should Vote. Many of these states dont participate in campaign visits or get televised ads. Samploon is a database of free essay samples. The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is an agreement where states in the compact award all their electoral votes to the winner of the . District Plan CONS Technically still possible, but A LOT hard to do so District 1 = Romney 57% District 2 = Romney 52% District 3 = Romney 70% Gerrymandering. 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. Longley, Robert. This National Popular Vote Compact wouldn't take effect until states with 270 electors a majority joined in. 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. 41 States (with 80% of U.S. population) will be Ignored in the 2024 Presidential Election. cons of the national popular vote planchicago religious demographics. How about receiving a customized one? The selection of presidential electors is specifically entrusted to the states by the Constitution. Some critics argue that more people would vote in a direct popular election, according to the University of the Pacific. This divide creates natural divisions between groups of people who both support their country, but in different ways. And thats not how it should be in a democracy. what connection type is known as "always on"? All other votes cast for that candidate are therefore superfluous. Since the Constitution and the Bill of Rights became governing documents in the United States, there have only been 17 amendments made to it. 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. It has been enacted into law in 11 states with 165 electoral votes, and will take effect when enacted by states with 105 more. The Electoral College was established in the Constitution to protect minority interests and mitigate the possibility of a regional candidate. Longley, Robert. Using the NPV system means that every vote counts the same. 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. 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. A popular vote system would significantly impact voters and turnout. 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 Unexpected emergencies would be difficult to handle. 1. 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. cons of the national popular vote plan. An individuals vote doesnt make a difference when it is counted against the votes of the delegates in the House of Representatives and Senate. It was a great idea in 1787 but the country has changed since 1787 and the people today want to elect the president by a simple, direct popular vote where whoever gets the most votes wins like we do in every other election in the country. 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. 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 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). 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. 1. Or the opposite could be true. Here are the essential pros and cons of popular vote elections to examine. Advantages of the NPV Interstate Compact 1. But sometime in the future the popular vote will change back and lean Republican. The popular vote eliminates this issue too. Going to the popular vote would eliminate this issue altogether. Constitutional Amendment to Guarantee the Right to Vote for All U.S. Citizens. NPV is more than a third of the way to its goal. But for those people who feel that changing how we elect the president should only be done by constitutional amendment they will feel that using the NPV Compact will undermine the legitimacy of the process even though its perfectly legal and constitutional. A majority of 270 electoral votes is required to elect the president. 4. 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. 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. Menu burger Close thin Facebook Twitter Google plus Linked in Reddit Email arrow-right-sm arrow-right Loading Home Buying Calculators It would be a national mandate to put someone in office, even if that winning candidate received less than 50% of the vote. 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. Yes. Battleground states would disappear in U.S. elections. Image the country thinks it is going to elect the president by National Popular Vote and then changing back to using the old Electoral College/Winner-Take-All system just four months before an election. Maine and Nebraska are the only two states that are not affected by this approach. 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. 5. That structure makes it easier for extremist views to find official representation. The Pros and Cons of the Electoral College - SmartAsset The electoral college is a tradition of American politics that's fairly controversial. 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). It happened once, in 1876. The NPV is a multi-state agreement that, when active, would ensure that the presidential candidate who wins the popular vote nationally also wins in the Electoral College. Lastly, some Americans believe that there would be an increase in voter turn-out if people felt that their vote was viewed as a significant asset to their country. Today, many electors are bound to vote according to their states' popular vote results, and those who aren't almost always do. During the 2012 elections, 38 states, also known as spectator states, were ignored and forgotten. 7. When the Constitution was set in place in 1789, the U.S. elected its first president. 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. This has occurred in 5 of the nation's 56 presidential elections, most recently in 2016. 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. Contributors control their own work and posted freely to our site. Copyright 2023 Leaf Group Ltd. / Leaf Group Education, Explore state by state cost analysis of US colleges in an interactive article, Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections: The Electoral College, University of the Pacific: Electoral College Reform, University of Missouri-Kansas City Law School: The Electoral College. Start and finish your paper with ease. 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. More attention is given to the swing states, such as Florida and Iowa, which causes the third problem the Electoral College can cause. 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. (LogOut/ There are logistical issues that are managed at the local level in each election. What would happen during a switch to the popular vote would be unknown. . F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush were elected with less than a majority of the votes cast. Without any sort of broad support, the politics of the country could become even more fractured than they already are. Cons of Electoral College. 9. 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. If the National Popular Vote bill was secured within the American government, it would protect every vote and would allow those votes to equally matter in the presidential election. "The National Popular Vote Plan." This feature is critical to the passionate bipartisan support the compact receives. Opines that the national popular vote plan is the wrong way to abolith the electoral college. 1, 2023 at 1:16 PM PST. This advance is referred to as the winner-take-all approach. 2023 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved. For more information, please see our And that would lead to chaos in how political parties campaign for president and could also undermine the legitimacy of the process. Americans are still bent up and flustered on how an individual could lose the popular vote, but still, be given the upper hand in Electoral College votes. 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.