Email from National Popular Vote

There Were 2 Wrong Winners, and 2 Near-Misses, in the 6 Most Recent Presidential Elections

The problems with the current system of electing the President stem from “winner-take-all” laws that award all of a state’s electoral votes to the candidate receiving the most popular votes in each separate state.

Because of these state laws, five of our 46 Presidents have entered office without winning the most popular votes nationwide -- including in 2000 and 2016.

Moreover, a shift of a small number of popular votes in one state in 2004 and three states in 2020 would have elected the loser of the national popular vote.

A few votes in a small number of states regularly decide the presidency.

The winner-take-all payoffs at the state level result in controversy over real or imagined irregularities, invite hair-splitting post-election litigation, and risk unrest.

18 STATES HAVE ALREADY ENACTED LAWS TO CHANGE THIS!

The National Popular Vote Compact will guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

The National Popular Vote Compact has already been enacted into law by 18 jurisdictions, including 6 small states (DC, DE, HI, ME, RI, VT), 9 medium-sized states (CO, CT, MD, ME, MA, MN, NJ, NM, OR, WA), and 3 big states (CA, IL, NY). These jurisdictions have 209 of the 270 electoral votes needed to activate the Compact.

The Compact has also passed one legislative chamber in 7 additional states with 74 electoral votes (AR, AZ, MI, NC, NV, OK, VA). Over 3,800 state legislators have sponsored or cast a recorded vote in favor of it.

The National Popular Vote law will take effect when enacted by states with a majority of the electoral votes (270 of 538). At that time, the presidential candidate receiving the most popular votes in all 50 states and DC will get all the electoral votes from all of the enacting states. That is, the candidate receiving the most popular votes nationwide will be guaranteed enough electoral votes to become President.

Under the National Popular Vote Compact, no voter will have their vote cancelled out at the state-level because their choice differed from majority sentiment in their state. Instead, every voter’s vote will be added directly into the national count for the candidate of their choice. This will ensure that every voter, in every state, will be politically relevant in every presidential election—regardless of where they live.

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