Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin are the 6 states that "both contenders agree ... are core battleground states" in the 2020 presidential election, according to the Wall St. Journal. The race is currently within an average of 4 percentage points in these 6 states. The Washington Post reached a similar conclusion.

The reason why voters in only a small handful of states matter is that most states award all of the state's electoral votes to the candidate who gets the most votes inside the state. Consequently, candidates have no reason to pay attention to voters unless they live in a state where the race is close -- say, within about 6 percentage points. Although a few other states might be closely divided battleground states in November (e.g., New Hampshire and Ohio), the fact is that 38 states have voted for the same party in the last 5 elections, and are likely to do so again. The voters in these states will likely be mere spectators to the election.

In addition, the current state-by-state winner-take-all method of awarding electoral votes is what has enabled 5 of our 45 Presidents to come into office without winning the most popular votes nationwide. This happens when a candidate ekes out a small plurality in a couple of states, while losing the popular vote in the rest of the country.

For example, Donald Trump became President in 2016 even though he lost the national popular vote by 2,868,518 votes. Trump won because he carried Michigan by 11,000 votes, Wisconsin by 23,000 votes, and Pennsylvania by 44,000 votes. Each of these 78,000 votes was 36 times more important than the 2,868,518 votes cast elsewhere.

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.

Every voter would be equal in a nationwide vote for President.

National Popular Vote will make every voter in every state politically relevant in every presidential election.

A nationwide vote would also improve voter participation. Voter turnout was 11% higher in 2016, 16% higher in 2012, and 9% in 2008 higher in the closely divided presidential battleground states compared to the rest of the country. The reason is that many voters in spectator states realize that their vote really does not matter in the presidential race.

Imagine how different our nation would be if the winner of the national popular vote had become President in 2016 and 2000. Although you can't change the past, you can change the future by supporting enactment of the National Popular Vote law in your state.