Dear John,

The Electoral College is a blatantly undemocratic institution that wreaks havoc over one of the core tasks of our democracy: the election of the President of the United States.

Giving voters in states with smaller populations a systematic advantage in every presidential election since George Washington is a constant in American politics that disenfranchises the tens of millions of Americans who live in populous states.

Nearly 65 million U.S. citizens live in the 100 largest cities in the country. Thanks to the Electoral College, which allots Electoral Votes to states unevenly, these citizens’ votes count less than one person, one vote.

But there is a way we can change this, without a constitutional amendment. It’s called the National Popular Vote (NPV) Interstate Compact, and every state that joins the compact casts all of their votes for the candidate who wins the national popular vote. It will only go into effect when enough states join the compact to meet or exceed the 270 Electoral Votes needed to win.

Until this year’s election, the Republican Party had won the national popular vote only once this century.

The conventional wisdom was that due to demographic shifts, the Republican Party might not ever be able to win the popular vote again. As a result, the National Popular Vote (NPV) Interstate Compact -- which would reform the way Electoral College votes are allocated -- had stalled in red states with Republican majorities.

However, this assumption is no longer true now that Donald Trump narrowly won the popular vote nationwide, taking partisanship out of the argument and allowing us to focus 100% on one person, one vote everywhere -- even in red states.

It’s time to count every presidential election vote, everywhere, equally. Tell the state governments to circumvent the Electoral College by passing the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact now!

Here’s how the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact would fix this glaring structural flaw in our electoral system:

• The compact involves no risk of a state throwing away its votes, as it will only go into effect after it has been enacted by enough states to yield at least 270 Electoral Votes -- enough to elect the president.

• Once in effect, every member state will cast all its electoral votes for the popular vote winner.

• The candidate who gets the most total votes nationwide will be elected president!

As a result, our elections would become more stable. The margin of victory would be determined by hundreds of thousands or millions of actual votes, not the handful of single or double digit electoral votes that decide our elections currently.

For example, in 2020, Joe Biden won seven million more votes than Donald Trump, but Trump was able to cast suspicion over states where the margin was much closer, making the election appear much closer than it was.

Even in 2000, when George W. Bush won Florida by slightly more than 500 votes when the Supreme Court stopped the full recount, Al Gore’s national margin was more than 500,000.

Already, states representing 209 electoral votes have signed on to the compact. We need to keep public pressure on to get to 270 and effectively end the Electoral College once and for all.

The stakes are simply too high to stop pushing, for 2028 and beyond. Add your name to call on states to pass the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact now!

Thank you for helping to protect our democracy by passing this essential reform!

Robert Reich
Inequality Media Civic Action