Rural voters would almost always be in the minority. Constitutional Amendment to Guarantee the Right to Vote for All U.S. Citizens. Regional candidates could secure enough votes to win a national election. 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 National Popular Vote, Explained | Brennan Center for Justice cons of the national popular vote plan - vidasproductivas.org In the 2016 election, only 58 percent of eligible voters went to the polls. The issue raised by the National Popular Vote campaign is fundamental: What kind of a democracy should America be? On average, studies show that falls in line with historical averages showing around 60 percent of eligible voters casting a vote in presidential election years. The years-old effort is slowly making its way through state legislatures in hopes of changing the way But don't forget, Bush won the popular vote four years later by three million votes. and our 1. An individuals vote doesnt make a difference when it is counted against the votes of the delegates in the House of Representatives and Senate. The popular vote currently gives every citizenCalifornians and Texans, Hawaiians and Mainers, Alabamans and Oregoniansan equal say in choosing the president. 9. 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. National Popular Vote: Circumventing the United States Constitution Also the NPV Compact allows states to withdraw from the compact as late as four months before an election. Contributors control their own work and posted freely to our site. The National Popular Vote Plan. The Electoral College system - the way we really elect our president - has always had its detractors and lost even more public support after the 2016 election, when it became apparent that President-ElectDonald Trump might have lost the nationwide popular vote to Sec. 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. This National Popular Vote Compact wouldn't take effect until states with 270 electors a majority joined in. Once enacted, the participating states would cast all of their electoral votes for the presidential candidate winning the nationwide popular vote, thus ensuring that candidate the required 270 electoral votes. Samploon is a database of free essay samples. Ten reasons I support the National Popular Vote | MinnPost An electoral college would solve . Surprisingly enough, the National Popular Vote bill could possibly bring forth some problems. According to the University of Missouri-Kansas City Law School, some proponents of the Electoral College argue that it isolates election problems, such as illegally extended voting hours or irregularly high voter turnout. cons of the national popular vote plan. This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. There are a number of pros for this method. Without any sort of broad support, the politics of the country could become even more fractured than they already are. When the Constitution was set in place in 1789, the U.S. elected its first president. In 2016, Gary Johnson received 4.48 million votes and 0 electoral votes, but the potential is always there for this to happen. 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. 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. In the 2020 election California did not certify their votes until Friday, December 11, only 3 days before the Electoral College met on Monday, December, 14. Thats a bank of about 14 million potential voters that reliably vote as a majority for Democratic candidates. 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. However, some critics argue that the advantages of a direct popular election including reflecting democratic principals, outweigh the disadvantages. The National Bonus Plan maintains the Electoral College voting system but adds 102 bonus electoral votes to the existing 538 votes. Mayors, governors, and senators are all elected by a simple majority. 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. Today, many electors are bound to vote according to their states' popular vote results, and those who aren't almost always do. 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. 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. The plan would not get rid of the Electoral College. 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. A Critique of the National Popular Vote October 13, 2008 Policy Analysis No. 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. More attention is given to the swing states, such as Florida and Iowa, which causes the third problem the Electoral College can cause. Pros And Cons Of Popular Vote - 558 Words | Studymode Analyzes how william c. kimberling, the deputy director of the federal election commission, is a credible author over the issue. Is It Time to Implement a National Popular Vote in Presidential And thats not how it should be in a democracy. In summary, a popular vote is simply a vote in which the individual or issue with the most total votes from a population of voters is the winner. After all, is said and done, the candidate who attains the largest number of votes can still lose. The votes of those who do not live in closely divided battleground states effectively count less. In the 2020 general election, a ballot proposition attempted to overturn Colorado's membership to the pact, but the measure failed, 52.3% to 47.7% in the referendum. According to Article II, Section 1, "Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress." 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. Advantages & Disadvantages of a Direct Popular Election Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. 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. every decade states are redistricted could be redrawn to capture house seats and corrupt the Presidential election Thats how politics works in America. She graduated magna cum laude from Brandeis University with bachelor's degrees in creative writing, English/American literature and international studies. The popular vote eliminates this issue too. 9. All in all, the Electoral College causes many problems that seem unfair to American voters during such an important election. When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. And unlike direct elections, either would provide an incentive for grass-roots activity, coalition building and enhanced citizen participation. National Popular Vote proponents argue that the United States has had four presidential elections in which the plurality winner of the popular vote was not chosen as president. The National Popular Vote Plan to Bypass the Electoral College - ThoughtCo 12th Amendment: Fixing the Electoral College, What Is Majoritarianism? National popular vote - Ballotpedia List of the Cons of Proportional Representation. Explains kimberling, william c., and dave leip's . Make a contribution to support Common Cause today. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/the-national-popular-vote-plan-3322047. on WordPress.com. . 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). 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. Most recently, the bill was passed by a bipartisan 4016 vote in the Republican-controlled Arizona House, 2818 in Republican-controlled Oklahoma Senate, 574 in Republican-controlled New York Senate, and 3721 in Democratic-controlled Oregon House." PDF The Direct Election Plan - tesd.net "The National Popular Vote Plan." The first advantage allows for electoral votes to be fairer than the Electoral College (Richards). 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. 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.. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. With a popular vote in place, each election win would be decreed a mandate to follow the platform of the winning party. That means every state is allowed a minimum of 3 electoral votes. State Question 820 lays out a statutory framework for a recreational industry that would begin about 90 days after election results are certified. sale of united methodist church property. And that would lead to chaos in how political parties campaign for president and could also undermine the legitimacy of the process. Congressional Digest The National Popular Vote Advantages of the NPV Interstate Compact 1. Yet, by May 2021, 15 states and Washington, D.C., had signed onto the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. Hillary Clinton, but won the electoral vote to become the 45thPresident of the United States. Is the Electoral College a Problem? Does It Need to Be Fixed? A candidate could be elected without the popular vote. 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. Currently, candidates focus more on swing and battleground states to help them gain those electoral votes. 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. That nightmare may seem like a pleasant dream if NPV has its way. What Is the National Bonus Plan? - Reference.com - What's Your Question? A popular vote election would bring the presidential election in line with the rest of the election structures. The cost of a presidential election in the United States is already several billion dollars. (LogOut/ How Many Electoral Votes Does a Candidate Need to Win? 27 Major Pros & Cons Of The Electoral College - E&C It would eliminate the Congressional provisions for a non-majority election. At the moment, 98 more electoral votes are needed to pass this bill in all 50 states (National Conference of State Legislators). It makes things easier for extreme parties to gain representation. The selection of presidential electors is specifically entrusted to the states by the Constitution. 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. 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). The Electoral College is very undemocratic and riddled with issues. Would you like to get a custom essay? April 8, 2016 National popular vote far better than Electoral College system for choosing presidents, Stanford professors say. Their vote only counts at the local level, not the national level, because of the electoral votes. To pass an amendment to change the Constitution the Founding Fathers wisely required approval by 2/3 of both houses of Congress and 3/4 of the state legislatures instead of a simple majority. National Popular Vote (NPV) - InfluenceWatch 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. 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. 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. But the biggest problem with changing how we elect our president using the NPV Compact is that its too easy to change it back. List of the Cons of Using the Popular Vote 1. Privacy Policy. 3. In a closely contested direct popular election, every precinct across the country might require close examination, rather than a handful of states or precincts. evergreen funeral home live stream. Our state will likely vote overwhelmingly for the Republican challenger to Barack Obama in November. A candidate can win the popular vote in enough states to win a majority of electoral votes but still lose the popular vote nationally. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. When you cast your ballot, you're not actually voting directly for your favored presidential candidate. This brings us to 196 of the 270 (73%) electoral votes needed to activate the pact just 74 votes away. Currently, the National Popular Vote bill has 172 electoral votes. It's time to abolish the Electoral College - Brookings The one-vote approach does not align with the way the electoral votes operates. 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 danger of NPV is that it will undermine the complex and vital underpinnings of American democracy. In theory that could happen every four years. However that presumably rare exception happened in the 2000 election when Florida could not complete their statewide recount in time for the Electoral College deadline and the Supreme Court forced Florida to use their first vote count without a statewide recount. 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. (2020, December 16). Without the popular vote bill, swing states would continue to get more leverage and attention from candidates to ensure that they would be able to capture their votes. These are the states that may go to either major party candidate in the election. 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 . The National Popular Vote proposal is doomed if even only - LSE Blogs There would be fewer opportunities to illegally alter the results of an election. 48 Vitosha Boulevard, ground floor, 1000, Sofia, Bulgaria, Samploon, Inc. 2022. Second, some believe itll intensify election problems, such as illegally extended voting hours or irregularly high voter turnout (Richards). 3. 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. 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. To determine the National Popular Vote winner, state election officials simply would tally the nationwide vote for president based on each states official results. what connection type is known as "always on"? The bill has crossed paths with 36 legislative chambers and has been sponsored or voted for by 3,112 state legislators (National Popular Vote). In fact, the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, which has now been adopted by 15 states and the District of Columbia, totaling 196 electoral votes, is an actionable and realistic . 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. Wyoming had just 3 electoral votes, but only had 255,000 voters as well. 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. "The National Popular Vote bill would guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in the entire U.S. With the polarization in global politics today, especially in the United States, a switch to the popular vote would likely increase costs even further. It would reduce diversity in the election structures. 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. 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. It has its pros and cons though, many of which critics debate over. 15 states and Washington, D.C. have joined the National Popular Vote compact. When a popular vote is held for a national office, the election becomes more about platform issues than local issues. 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. The Electoral College Vs. Popular Vote - 1203 Words | 123 Help Me Currently, 48 of the 50 states follow the winner-take-all rule. One of the biggest reasons why voters dont vote is because they feel like their vote doesnt count. Web. Electoral votes are designated among the states based on Census. The country could become less stable and divided if he or she did not have a vast amount of support (Richards). America is known to have the costliest, prolonged, and complicated structure when electing a head of state. This feature is critical to the passionate bipartisan support the compact receives. 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. What would happen during a switch to the popular vote would be unknown. Either would provide a reason for both parties to compete in most states because there would be electors to win. 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. Change). The Electoral College - Top 3 Pros and Cons - ProCon.org