The first problem it creates is the opportunity for the loser of the popular vote to win the electoral vote. That nightmare may seem like a pleasant dream if NPV has its way. When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. 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. If a popular vote were allowed to declare a winner instead, it wouldnt be through a state-by-state counting of electoral votes. 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). Under the current structure of presidential elections in the U.S., the states become a battleground of red states vs. blue states. She graduated magna cum laude from Brandeis University with bachelor's degrees in creative writing, English/American literature and international studies. The winner would receive one vote per congressional district won with the winner of the state popular vote gaining a two electoral votes. While we look further into the National Popular Vote, lets investigate some of its pro and cons for the American democracy. every decade states are redistricted could be redrawn to capture house seats and corrupt the Presidential election However, some critics argue that the advantages of a direct popular election including reflecting democratic principals, outweigh the disadvantages. All other votes cast for that candidate are therefore superfluous. 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. Because there was a difference of less than 1,000 tabulated votes between George W. Bush and Al Gore in one state, Florida, the nation watched as 6 million votes were recounted by machine, several hundred thousand were recounted by hand in counties with differing recount standards, partisan litigators fought each other in state and federal courts, the secretary of state backed by the majority of state legislators (all Republicans) warred with the state's majority Democratic judiciary -- until 37 days after the election the U.S. Supreme Court, in a bitterly controversial 5-4 decision effectively declared Bush the winner. 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 NPV Interstate Compact does not eliminate the very complicated Electoral College system that most voters dont really understand. . When a popular vote is held for a national office, the election becomes more about platform issues than local issues. 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. 1. It knows that a majoritarianism that produces a plurality is not the voice of a majority of the citizenry. (LogOut/ 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. They have only won the popular vote once. April 8, 2016 National popular vote far better than Electoral College system for choosing presidents, Stanford professors say. 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 The danger of NPV is that it will undermine the complex and vital underpinnings of American democracy. sale of united methodist church property. In a closely contested direct popular election, every precinct across the country might require close examination, rather than a handful of states or precincts. Samploon is a database of free essay samples. Yes. National Popular Vote values rural and urban voters equally. The votes of those who do not live in closely divided battleground states effectively count less. In U.S. history, there has been one vice-presidential candidate who died after being nominated and one that withdrew from their partys ticket. How the National Popular Vote Plan Would Work. It awards all the bonus votes to the winner of the popular vote. Bosque de Palabras 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? Actually the NPV Compact doesnt change one word in he Constitution and in fact only changes state laws. And that would undermine the legitimacy of the NPV among those people. During the 2012 elections, 38 states, also known as spectator states, were ignored and forgotten. A majority of 270 electoral votes is required to elect the president. 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. 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. Hillary Clinton, but won the electoral vote to become the 45thPresident of the United States. In contrast, other issues related to the federal government are not exclusively entrusted to the states, and therefore the states lack the power to alter them. 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. For more information, please see our How Many Electoral Votes Does a Candidate Need to Win? 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. 1. Watch out! N.p., n.d. 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. The Electoral College was established in the Constitution to protect minority interests and mitigate the possibility of a regional candidate. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Definition and Examples, Learn How Many Total Electoral Votes There Are. Each vote would affect each candidate instead of being overlooked due to which state those votes would be coming from. F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush were elected with less than a majority of the votes cast. The compact is designed to ensure that the candidate who receives the most votes nationwide is elected president, and it . 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. A direct popular election also ensures that citizens' votes have equal weight. Menu burger Close thin Facebook Twitter Google plus Linked in Reddit Email arrow-right-sm arrow-right Loading Home Buying Calculators 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. And thats not how it should be in a democracy. 5. 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). Over the years, the National Popular Vote bill has been introduced in the legislatures of all 50 states. An individuals vote doesnt make a difference when it is counted against the votes of the delegates in the House of Representatives and Senate. If enacted by enough states, the National Popular Vote bill would guarantee the presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. 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. List of the Cons of Using the Popular Vote 1. Resource allocation would be focused on paid advertising, which would negate the need for grassroots activities. I will explain that in another blog post. Bush and Al Gore (Black). Inicio; Nota Biografica; Obra; Blogs. Security would be improved across the country. Although it is sometimes conjectured that a national popular election would focus only on big cities, it is clear that this would not be the case. This feature is critical to the passionate bipartisan support the compact receives. Either would provide a reason for both parties to compete in most states because there would be electors to win. Proportional Plan The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is an agreement where states in the compact award all their electoral votes to the winner of the . It is not at all clear that it would similarly prosper under the direct election regime being pushed by NPV. When the Constitution was set in place in 1789, the U.S. elected its first president. It would eliminate the Congressional provisions for a non-majority election. Published: Mar. pros and cons." dave leip's atlas of u.s. presidential elections. ThoughtCo. 4. 2. Change). Currently, 48 of the 50 states follow the winner-take-all rule. When you cast your ballot, you're not actually voting directly for your favored presidential candidate. 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. It would reduce the threshold necessary to win the office. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. The plan would not get rid of the Electoral College. As a result, the bill will take effect when enacted by states possessing an additional 74 electoral votes. 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. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. The appeal of NPV is the simplicity of its message. It would reduce the influence of third parties on the U.S. presidential election. The danger of NPV is that it will undermine the complex and vital underpinnings of American democracy. 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." 805 15th Street, NW, Suite 800 There are a number of pros for this method. For the popular vote, however, Hillary Clinton received 65.8 million votes, while Donald Trump received 62.9 million votes. The principal flaw in the plan is its assumption that under the plan there will still be only two major parties competing for the presidency in 2020. . Longley, Robert. How about receiving a customized one? You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Or the opposite could be true. 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. 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. 9. Probably the NPV Compact would be enacted into law with as little as a simple majority of the states and possibly even less. 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. This divide creates natural divisions between groups of people who both support their country, but in different ways. 41 States (with 80% of U.S. population) will be Ignored in the 2024 Presidential Election. 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. 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. In theory we could change how we elect our president every four years. But don't forget, Bush won the popular vote four years later by three million votes. 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. 1. 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.. 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. The states' approval of the compact is a victory for democracy and the principle of "one person, one vote." This advance is referred to as the winner-take-all approach. NPV is more than a third of the way to its goal. Although moving to a popular vote election would balance the weight of each vote, it would also create more sway in larger population states. In a direct popular election, a candidate could theoretically win without having broad support throughout the country. In the 2016 election, only 58 percent of eligible voters went to the polls. National Popular Vote compact pros and cons. Start and finish your paper with ease. For the 7 presidential elections between 1992-2016, the Republican candidate has won the Electoral college 3 times. 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. 4. The electoral requires that an election which does not receive a majority of electoral votes be taken into the U.S. House of Representatives. Here are the essential pros and cons of popular vote elections to examine. The National Bonus Plan maintains the Electoral College voting system but adds 102 bonus electoral votes to the existing 538 votes. A simple change in the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact could fix the flaw and still provide the benefits of a popular election. 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. The first advantage allows for electoral votes to be fairer than the Electoral College (Richards). Learn more about how the National Popular Vote compact works and the ways it could make our elections better for everyone. 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. Like most issues involving politics, the U.S. Constitution is largely silent on the political issues of presidential elections. In Maine, both houses of the legislature passed the bill in 2019, but it failed at the final enactment step. [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.]. Longley, Robert. 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. amazon web services address herndon va custom airbrush spray tan near me custom airbrush spray tan near me 2. More people live in urban regions, which means they would have a constant sway over the election. 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. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Constitutional Amendment to Guarantee the Right to Vote for All U.S. Citizens. That is hardly a mandate for governing, though it would be taken as such. Regional candidates could secure enough votes to win a national election. America is known to have the costliest, prolonged, and complicated structure when electing a head of state. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting Cookies Settings, which can also be found in the footer of the site. The years-old effort is slowly making its way through state legislatures in hopes of changing the way Join the thousands across the country who instantly rally when there is a threat to our democracy. It would require an Amendment in the U.S. for presidential elections. The candidate who placed second in the popular vote was elected in 2016, 2000, 1888, 1876, and 1824. http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/. 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. There would be a reduced need to build coalitions. 9. It would be a national mandate to put someone in office, even if that winning candidate received less than 50% of the vote. The selection of presidential electors is specifically entrusted to the states by the Constitution. Even though pre-election polls made conspicuous predictions of Hilary Clinton winning the presidency and . Under the Electoral College system, voters in states that are overwhelmingly in support of one candidate might feel like their vote is unimportant. Yet, by May 2021, 15 states and Washington, D.C., had signed onto the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. It has also happened four times out of the 56 presidential elections. There would be fewer opportunities to illegally alter the results of an election. 4. Even the minority party wouldnt be encouraged to negotiate because they could simply stall until the next election. Here are the Cons of the Electoral College 1. 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 only election in the United States which is not governed by the popular vote is the presidential election. The bill has crossed paths with 36 legislative chambers and has been sponsored or voted for by 3,112 state legislators (National Popular Vote). But if some non-member And thats not how it should be in a democracy. But the biggest problem with changing how we elect our president using the NPV Compact is that its too easy to change it back. 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. To determine the National Popular Vote winner, state election officials simply would tally the nationwide vote for president based on each states official results. An electoral college would solve . The electoral college leads to a heavy emphasis on swing states and also typically over-represents citizens in rural states. This text is available online and is used for gudiance and inspiration, We use cookies to give you the best experience possible. 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%. 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. 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 issue raised by the National Popular Vote campaign is fundamental: What kind of a democracy should America be? And finally, the Electoral College doesnt work today anywhere near how the Founding Fathers intended it to work when they created it back in 1787. "The National Popular Vote Plan." 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. 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. (2021, Jun 14). Get breaking news and updates from Common Cause. Today, many electors are bound to vote according to their states' popular vote results, and those who aren't almost always do. 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 The Electoral College distorts presidential campaigns . 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 would likely reduce the number of voters who cast a ballot in each election as most people are more concerned about local impacts than national policies. It has been enacted into law in 11 states with 165 electoral votes, and will take effect when enacted by states with 105 more. 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. Donald Trump won the presidential election by securing 304 electoral votes, compared to Hillary Clintons 227 electoral votes. Under the system of proportional representation, any party with a high enough percentage of the vote will receive a seat in the government. The last amendment, the 27th Amendment to the Constitution, was ratified nearly 200 years after it was originally proposed. The framers enacted the provisions relating to the Electoral College to allow for state innovation. 15 states and Washington, D.C. have joined the National Popular Vote compact. 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. The President-Elect takes the oath of office and is sworn in as President of the United States on January 20th in the year following the Presidential election (Archives). 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. Explains kimberling, william c., and dave leip's . Without any sort of broad support, the politics of the country could become even more fractured than they already are. 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. Note: Today we are in a phase where the popular vote in presidential elections leans Democratic. Over the long run the countrys popular vote in presidential elections has roughly been equally split between Republican and Democratic.*. 8. How the US Electoral College System Works, Biography of Donald Trump, 45th President of the United States, What Is Statutory Law? That offers the possibility that someone unwilling or unable to hold the office could be elected. 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). Disadvantages of the NPV Interstate Compact. "The National Popular Vote Plan." And thats not how it should be in a democracy. At that stage, anyone who received an electoral vote is eligible to become the next president. Under the current structure of the electoral college, the focus of a presidential campaign is on the so-called battleground states. 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. Do you have information you want to share with HuffPost? 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. . In states with large population centers, individual voters have less power than voters in smaller states. 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.
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