Current State-by-State System of Electing President Creates Unnecessary Recounts, Lawsuits, and Doubt
The current state-by-state winner-take-all method of electing the President starts by dividing America’s 158,000,000 voters into 51 state-level elections.

The result of breaking the country into 51 separate elections is that the Presidency is frequently decided by a few thousand votes in a handful of states.

Real or imagined irregularities regularly invite hair-splitting legal disputes, recounts, and loss of confidence in elections. This was the dynamic that led to the January 6, 2021 riot. 

The first-place presidential candidate had an average lead of 4.7 million votes in the last six elections.

But the current state-by-state system repeatedly creates uncertainty and the opportunity for unnecessary recounts, lawsuits, and doubt. If 5,229 voters in Arizona, 5,890 in Georgia, and 10,342 in Wisconsin changed their minds in 2020, Joe Biden would have been defeated -- despite leading nationally by over 7,000,000 votes. 

Similarly, in 2004, had 59,393 voters in Ohio changed their minds, President Bush would have lost, despite leading the national popular vote by over 3 million votes. 

The fragility of the current state-by-state system is illustrated by the fact that we have had two near-misses in the Electoral College in the last six presidential elections (2020 and 2004). And, in the candidate who lost the nationwide vote became President in two other elections (2016 and 2000).  More info
Electing the President on the basis of the national popular vote would make the system less fragile.

The National Popular Vote bill will
  • applies the one-person-one-vote principle to presidential elections,
  • guarantee the presidency to the candidate who gets the most votes nationwide, and
  • give candidates a reason to campaign in all 50 states.

It will ensure that every voter, in every state, will be politically relevant in every presidential election. It will produce a 50-state campaign for President.
LEARN MORE ABOUT NATIONAL POPULAR VOTE
     
·    One-page description of National Popular Vote
·    Introductory video (8 minutes)
·    Watch our myth-busting webinar hosted by National Popular Vote's grassroots director Eileen Reavey
·    Watch Jesse Wegman, author of Let the People Pick the President
·    Watch Prof. George Edwards III, author of Why the Electoral College Is Bad for America
·    Podcast with Jason Harrow, Executive Director of Equal Citizens and National Popular Vote Chair Dr. John Koza
·    Listen to Open Mind podcast in which Alexander Heffner interviews National Popular Vote Chair Dr. John Koza (also on Spotify)
·    Watch Michael Steele, former Chair of the Republican National Committee
·    Watch Rick Tyler, author of Still Right, and Saul Anuzis present the conservative case for electing the President by National Popular Vote
·    Watch debate at R Street between National Popular Vote's Eileen Reavey and Patrick Rosenstiel and NPV's opponents Tara Ross and Trent England
·     Watch video of the 270-by-2024 virtual conference, with 16 speakers, hosted by National Popular Vote, FairVote, Common Cause, the League of Women Voters, and Equal Citizens.