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Dear John,
Should someone else's vote count more than yours?
For 80 percent of Americans, that’s exactly what’s happening. Their vote for president isn’t nearly as valuable as the vote of someone in a so-called “swing state.”
Most of us live in states that have become so predictably Democratic or Republican that we’re taken for granted by candidates.
Presidential elections now turn on the dwindling number of swing states that could go either way, which gives voters in these states huge leverage. While we wait for the final breakdown from this year's election, we know how it's worked before. The 2020 election came down to just over 40,000 votes spread across just three swing states. 2016 came down to fewer than 80,000 votes also across three states.
In those elections, the national popular vote wasn’t that close. In fact, in the last five elections, the winners of the popular vote beat their opponents by an average of 5 million votes.
Not only that, but these razor-thin swing state margins can invite post-election recounts, audits, and lawsuits -- even attempted coups. The current system presents a growing threat to the peaceful transition of power.
It also strips us of our individual power. Candidates don’t need broad popular support as much as a mobilized base in a handful of swing states. Campaigning to a smaller and more radical base is also leading to uglier, more divisive campaigns. And twice already this century, candidates were elected president without winning the most votes nationwide.
Now there is a solution to fix this glaring structural flaw in our electoral system.
A movement has been building for nearly 20 years which would functionally abolish the Electoral College and let the people pick the president by popular vote, without the need for a hard-to-pass constitutional amendment. It’s called the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.
Strengthen democracy! One person, one vote. Watch this week’s video to see how the Electoral College can be abolished by passing the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact now!
How does it work? The Constitution assigns each state a number of electors equal to its number of representatives and senators. As of now, the total number of electors is 538. So anyone who gets 270 or more of those Electoral College votes becomes president.
Article 2 of the Constitution allows state legislatures to award their electors any way they want. So all that’s needed is for states with a total of at least 270 electoral votes to agree to award all their electoral votes to the presidential candidate who wins the national popular vote.
The movement to do this is already underway. 17 states and the District of Columbia have joined the compact, agreeing that once enough states join, all their electoral votes will go to the popular vote winner. Together, states in the compact have 209 electoral votes. So we just need a few more states with at least 61 electors to join the compact and it’s done.
Popular vote initiatives have recently been introduced in Arizona, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada, and Virginia, which if passed, would bring the total to 270 and put the compact into effect. If we keep up the fight and get enough states on board, America will never again elect a president who loses the national popular vote.
No longer would 80 percent of us be effectively disenfranchised from presidential campaigns. And a handful of votes in swing states would no longer determine the winner -- inviting recounts, audits, litigation, and attempted coups that threaten our democracy.
The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact would effectively abolish the Electoral College. We ask that you watch our video and share it broadly.
Thank you for spreading the word about this crucial reform!
Robert Reich
Inequality Media Civic Action
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