One person – one vote is not a reality in American presidential elections. Five times we have elected a president who did not get the most votes nationally—in 1824, 1876, 1888, 2000, and 2016.
This violation of democratic principles happens because in the U.S. presidential election system, instead of the nationwide popular vote determining the outcome of the election, the President of the United States is determined by votes cast by “electors.” Each state has as many of these electors as it has Representatives and Senators in the United States Congress, and most states require that all elector votes go to the candidate who receives the plurality of votes in that state. The problem is this arrangement causes votes in some states to count more than votes in other states.
The Electoral College is a process not a place, and under the Electoral College, there are significant disparities between states in the weight of presidential votes. For example, presidential ballots in 44 states and D.C. are worth more than a Virginian’s vote. At the extreme, votes in Vermont and Wyoming are worth more than three times votes in Virginia. It is as if when a Virginian casts a presidential ballot, a voter in Vermont or Wyoming gets to cast three ballots.
Popular vote is the only fair way to elect a President.
Most of us believe that the system should be one person- one vote where each vote for President anywhere in the country should be equal to every other vote. However, that does not happen in our current system.
A key point here is that how states vote in the Electoral College is up to the state legislatures. The state process can be changed or repealed as they were enacted – by passing a different state law. Such a remedy is in the works—the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC).
NPVIC is an agreement among the states that guarantees the U.S. presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes across 50 states and D.C. It replaces state winner-take-all laws with new state laws that award their electoral votes to the candidate who wins the popular vote across 50 states and D.C. The bill only goes into effect when states with 270 electoral votes have been committed to the Compact.
Polls show more than 70 percent of Americans support a nationwide vote for President, and NPVIC has been endorsed by both Republicans and Democrats as support is bipartisan. NPVIC is a non-profit organization, and several of the leaders are Republicans. Eight former national chairs of the conservative ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) have endorsed the plan. Even conservative former Republican Congressmen Newt Gingrich and Bob Barr have endorsed NPVIC.
Fifteen states and the District of Columbia have passed legislation to join the NPVIC. These jurisdictions have a total of 196 electoral votes. Thus, the Compact has 196 of the 270 Electoral votes needed to adopt the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.
The bill will take effect when enacted by states possessing an additional 74 electoral votes. In at least nine states with a total of 85 electoral votes, NPVIC legislation has passed either the house or the senate and not yet the other.
Virginians have long backed a national popular vote for President. A poll in 2008 showed that 74 percent of Virginians supported such a plan. The bill has not yet gotten out of committee; however, it will be introduced again in the upcoming legislative session. People in Virginia who favor this plan should call their legislators and tell them so.
Popular vote is the only fair way to elect a president.
