|
Hi,
In 2000, George W. Bush won the presidency despite losing the popular vote by more than half a million votes. This happened again in 2016, when Donald Trump won the White House despite getting nearly 2.9 million fewer votes.1
And given demographic trends and the increasing polarization of American politics, it's only a matter of time before we get another Electoral College meltdown.
But there's a plan to fix the current, undemocratic Electoral College system. It's called the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.
The compact is a legal agreement among the states to award their electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote. Once enough states join to add up to 270 electoral votes, we'll finally pick the president based on who actually gets the most votes nationwide.
Demand Progress Action has advocated for the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact for years, and we're hearing that Michigan could be the next state to join, which would bring the movement to within 46 electoral votes of victory!2,3
We know that we don't need to tell you how much damage a single president can do.
Just take the current right-wing supermajority on the Supreme Court. Five of the nine members of the court were picked by presidents who came into office without winning the national popular vote — and they've gutted the Voting Rights Act, overturned Roe v. Wade, and shredded our campaign finance laws.
But the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact isn't about helping one party or the other. It's a nonpartisan effort to make sure our democracy actually functions in a way that reflects the will of the majority.
Under the current system, candidates can simply ignore the views of most Americans. It doesn't matter if you're a Republican, Democrat, Independent, or something else. Unless you happen to live in one of a handful of swing states, the candidates really couldn't care less who you vote for.
That's not what a functioning democracy looks like, and we can do better.
Demand Progress Action has mobilized tens of thousands of people to call for this change. We've seen the movement grow one state at a time over the years, and today we're closer than ever. Maine joined the compact earlier this spring, and if Michigan joins next — and there's a real chance that could happen — we'll be just 46 electoral votes away from finally ending the current, undemocratic Electoral College system.
With gratitude for all that you do,
The team at Demand Progress Action
Sources:
1. The New York Times, "The Electoral College Explained," January 5, 2021.
2. Democracy Docket, "Maine Legislature Passes Bill To Join National Popular Vote Interstate Compact," March 5, 2024.
3. Michigan Legislature, "House Bill 4156 of 2023," accessed April 26, 2024.
PAID FOR BY DEMAND PROGRESS (DemandProgress.org) and not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. Contributions are not deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes. Join our online community on Facebook or Twitter.
You can unsubscribe from this list at any time.