1. Politicians would focus on fewer swing states (Bigger states more potential votes) The National Popular Vote Bill is not a Democrat or Republican bill. The Electoral College system, however imperfect, serves this broader view of democracy. Here is the entire text of the proposed "Agreement Among the States to Elect the President by National Popular Vote." Tweet Email this More on The Electoral College: Honorable Steve Cohen A shift of a relative handful of votes in one or two states would have elected the second-place candidate in six of the last 12 presidential elections. A popular vote election would bring the presidential election in line with the rest of the election structures. 15 states and Washington, D.C. have joined the National Popular Vote compact. 3. 1. Home| Government| Elections| Electoral College| Electoral College Pros And Cons. The second advantage is that the all votes would be equally weighed (Richards). Even the minority party wouldnt be encouraged to negotiate because they could simply stall until the next election. Less would get done, which would affect the needs of households at the local level. The cost of a presidential election in the United States is already several billion dollars. Because its so hard to get an amendment to the Constitution passed that means that once it becomes law it will probably remain so for a long time because the bar to change it back is so high. The issue raised by the National Popular Vote campaign is fundamental: What kind of a democracy should America be? It is our national motto and is so for a reason. Electoral College and National Popular Vote Pros and Cons It sees a healthy and vibrant democracy needing the underpinnings of civil society that rests on the sustained and active engagement of the citizenry and promotes approaches that seek to maximize that involvement. When the Constitution was set in place in 1789, the U.S. elected its first president. She graduated magna cum laude from Brandeis University with bachelor's degrees in creative writing, English/American literature and international studies. Retrieved from https://samploon.com/electoral-college-and-national-popular-vote-pros-and-cons/, Should the Electoral College Be Abolished, Pros for The Electoral College in the United States, Electoral College is Undemocratic but We Have no Better System, The Electoral College Should Be Terminated, The Electoral College Annotated Bibliography. That means the cost of counting all the votes would be duplicated. Richards earned a master's degree at Carnegie Mellon University. In states with large population centers, individual voters have less power than voters in smaller states. The selection of presidential electors is specifically entrusted to the states by the Constitution. 1. All in all, the Electoral College causes many problems that seem unfair to American voters during such an important election. Unless the national popular vote was very close, or there were all lot of recounts outstanding, the Compact states in most cases would effectively know what the outcome would be and could be prepared to certify their state votes very quickly to make the Electoral College meeting date deadline. A popular vote structure would virtually eliminate the idea of a third-party candidate having a chance in an election. Hillary Clinton, but won the electoral vote to become the 45thPresident of the United States. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting Cookies Settings, which can also be found in the footer of the site. The election is held every four years on the first Tuesday in November and prior to election day, the two candidates endure state-level primaries, caucuses, debates, and conventions. 6. It would be a national mandate to put someone in office, even if that winning candidate received less than 50% of the vote. On a close popular vote, often defined as a difference of 0.5% or less in the tabulated results, an automatic recount would likely be triggered. There are a number of pros for this method. 805 15th Street, NW, Suite 800 Security would be improved across the country. Wyoming had just 3 electoral votes, but only had 255,000 voters as well. This National Popular Vote Compact wouldn't take effect until states with 270 electors a majority joined in. The Electoral College system - the way we really elect our president - has always had its detractors and lost even more public support after the 2016 election, when it became apparent that President-ElectDonald Trump might have lost the nationwide popular vote to Sec. If the election is based off a popular vote, each of these areas would need to be closely examined in real-time, which would enhance the security of each vote that is cast. Is the Electoral College a Problem? Does It Need to Be Fixed? Lawmakers discuss plan to enact National Popular Vote in Michigan The lack of competition and campaigning in a majority of states owes itself not to the existence of the Electoral College's indirect method of choosing presidents but rather to the winner-take-all method of choosing electors in all but two states. Since 2008, 15 states and the District of Columbia have passed laws to adopt the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC), which is an multi-state agreement to commit electors to. on WordPress.com. 7. First it would be relatively easy to implement. 2. How about receiving a customized one? If a party knows either that it can't win a single elector in a state or has an easy road to winning all of them, it sends its resources to where it has a competitive chance.. A direct popular election would make it more possible for third-party candidates to succeed and would also encourage political parties to become more radical and extreme. The National Popular Vote: Misusing an Interstate Compact to Bypass the 7. By continuing well assume youre on board with our, https://samploon.com/electoral-college-and-national-popular-vote-pros-and-cons/, Select a writer from a large pool of experts. This advance is referred to as the winner-take-all approach. In summary, a popular vote is simply a vote in which the individual or issue with the most total votes from a population of voters is the winner. Destroying the Electoral College: The Anti-Federalist National Popular Without change, a plan for a national popular vote could undermine the 12 Proportional Representation Pros and Cons - Vittana.org If enacted by enough states, the National Popular Vote bill would guarantee the presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. More attention is given to the swing states, such as Florida and Iowa, which causes the third problem the Electoral College can cause. The Electoral College is made up of 538 electors and a majority of 270 electoral votes is mandatory to nominate the President. Advantage: Encourages Voter Turnout That structure makes it easier for extremist views to find official representation. 9 Pros and Cons of Electoral College | APECSEC.org The time to stop its momentum is now. Instead, each state and Washington D.C. is assigned a certain number of electoral votes based on its population. The National Popular Vote Plan. Do you have information you want to share with HuffPost. ThoughtCo, Dec. 16, 2020, thoughtco.com/the-national-popular-vote-plan-3322047. If the National Popular Vote bill was secured within the American government, it would protect every vote and would allow those votes to equally matter in the presidential election. every decade states are redistricted could be redrawn to capture house seats and corrupt the Presidential election 5. District Plan by Hannah Patzer - Prezi Regional candidates could secure enough votes to win a national election. Yes. The Electoral College - Top 3 Pros and Cons - ProCon.org You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. For the 7 presidential elections between 1992-2016, the Republican candidate has won the Electoral college 3 times. Over the long run the countrys popular vote in presidential elections has roughly been equally split between Republican and Democratic.*. Rebekah Richards is a professional writer with work published in the "Atlanta Journal-Constitution," "Brandeis University Law Journal" and online at tolerance.org. NPV supporters claim, accurately, that a direct election for president would reduce or eliminate the possibility that a fringe candidate (like a Ralph Nader or Ron Paul) winning five percent or less of the vote in a single state could serve to defeat a major party candidate from the same side of the political spectrum. Under the system of proportional representation, any party with a high enough percentage of the vote will receive a seat in the government. Pros & Cons of a National Popular Vote Buy Complete Issue $19.95 Login or Subscribe The National Popular Vote How would the interstate compact work? cons of the national popular vote planchicago religious demographics. Also the NPV Compact allows states to withdraw from the compact as late as four months before an election. The compact is designed to ensure that the candidate who receives the most votes nationwide is elected president, and it . There would be a reduced need to build coalitions. Here are the Cons of the Electoral College 1. Proportional Plan Some areas may bend the rules of an election by extending voting hours illegally. And unlike direct elections, either would provide an incentive for grass-roots activity, coalition building and enhanced citizen participation. The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is an agreement where states in the compact award all their electoral votes to the winner of the . I will explain that in another blog post. 5. A switch to the popular vote would eliminate the concept of a battleground state because the issue would be more on issues than states. Is there a conservative case for National Popular Vote? But the biggest problem with changing how we elect our president using the NPV Compact is that its too easy to change it back. People are moving to live in like-minded communities more than ever before. A close election would trigger the need for a full recount. Analyzes how william c. kimberling, the deputy director of the federal election commission, is a credible author over the issue. In 2016, Florida had 29 electoral votes and 9.4 million voters, created a voter value of 0.72. Six Reasons to Reject National Popular Vote - Pelican Policy (2020, December 16). During the 2012 elections, 38 states, also known as spectator states, were ignored and forgotten. It isnt impossible to pass a Constitutional amendment, though history shows that it is not an easy process to complete. Battleground states would disappear in U.S. elections. The votes of those who do not live in closely divided battleground states effectively count less. Today the Democrats want to replace the Electoral College/Winner-Take-All system with a direct popular vote and the Republicans adamantly want to keep it. (LogOut/ University of Colorado Boulder Around six-in-ten U.S. adults (63%) say the way the president is elected should be changed so that the winner of the popular vote nationwide wins the presidency, while 35% favor keeping the current Electoral College system, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted June 27-July 4, 2022. The Electoral College was established in the Constitution to protect minority interests and mitigate the possibility of a regional candidate. Join the thousands across the country who instantly rally when there is a threat to our democracy. Under the electoral college system of voting, the number of representatives a state has in Congress (Senators and Representatives) is the total number of electoral votes it is allowed. Some states, such as California and Hawaii, both had their bills vetoed by their governors before it was overridden and enacted by state legislators. The National Popular Vote Plan to Bypass the Electoral College - ThoughtCo In countries where the concept of popular votes is in place, every vote has an equal weight regarding the election outcome. However, some critics argue that the advantages of a direct popular election including reflecting democratic principals, outweigh the disadvantages. Congressional District Method - Electoral College Reform - Weebly 2. I fear that most, if not all, of the states signing onto the NPV Compact will be just blue states. On average, studies show that falls in line with historical averages showing around 60 percent of eligible voters casting a vote in presidential election years. Robert Longley is a U.S. government and history expert with over 30 years of experience in municipal government and urban planning. The electoral college leads to a heavy emphasis on swing states and also typically over-represents citizens in rural states. An individuals vote doesnt make a difference when it is counted against the votes of the delegates in the House of Representatives and Senate. Just 12 Closely Divided Battleground States Got 96% of 2020 Campaign Events. The first advantage allows for electoral votes to be fairer than the Electoral College (Richards). Michigan Legislature considers plan to enact national popular vote Published: Mar. Inkwell | Everything You Need to Know About the National Popular Vote But with the NPV Compact a change in party control of just one or two states could restore the old system of electing the president and then four years later it could be changed back. After the process, the President of the Senate reveals who has officially been voted in as President and Vice President of the United States. After all, is said and done, the candidate who attains the largest number of votes can still lose. National Popular Vote values rural and urban voters equally. Should that happen, then the final decision of who gets to serve as President of the United States is taken away from individual voters. Past Event - LWV Webinar on Popular Vote - The Buchanan Chronicle District Plan CONS Technically still possible, but A LOT hard to do so District 1 = Romney 57% District 2 = Romney 52% District 3 = Romney 70% Gerrymandering. The amendment requires that any change to the rate of compensation for members of Congress can only take effect after a subsequent election in the House of Representatives. Richard F. Potthoff looks critically at a proposed alternative way of electing the US president, the National Popular Vote plan, where all states in an interstate compact which cover 270 or more electoral votes would cast their electoral votes for the candidate who won the nationwide vote, no matter who wins their state. Going to the popular vote would eliminate this issue altogether. The country thinks we are going to elect the president using the Electoral College/Winner-Take-All system tans and then four months before the election we change to the National Popular Vote Compact system and elect the president by whoever gets the most popular votes. The National Popular Vote proposal is doomed if even only - LSE Blogs In 2004, for example, candidates George W. Bush and John Kerry campaigned heavily in states such as Nevada while ignoring political issues in New York, a state that Kerry was sure to win, according to the University of the Pacific. In the 2020 election California did not certify their votes until Friday, December 11, only 3 days before the Electoral College met on Monday, December, 14. N.p., n.d. Heres how. According to the Constitution, the Electoral College is a compromise between election of the President by a vote in Congress and election of the President by a popular vote of qualified citizens (National Archives). But if some non-member This brings us to 196 of the 270 (73%) electoral votes needed to activate the pact just 74 votes away. Cons: Smaller states don't get as much of a say and people would demand a national recount National Bonus Plan Winner of popular vote gets extra 102 electoral votes Pros: No winner of popular vote losing overall Cons: Basically exactly like the Direct plan District Plan Win popular vote in each district, you get one electoral vote. The advantage of this system is that it preserves the preferences of. Gov Flashcards | Quizlet Poly Sci Final Flashcards | Quizlet In the case of a tie, there are contingencies in place to determine which person will serve in the elected office. The National Popular Vote (NPV) refers to the concept of allocating a state's presidential electors to the candidate who receives the most votes nationwide regardless of the state results in a presidential election. "The National Popular Vote bill would guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in the entire U.S. A Critique of the National Popular Vote | Cato Institute That would likely reduce the number of voters who cast a ballot in each election as most people are more concerned about local impacts than national policies. Con:not Eliminate possibility that loser of the popular vote can still win the electoral vote The Proportional Plan A proposed reform where each presidential candidate would receive the percent of electoral votes that they win from each state Proportional Plan Pro:Possible for loser of popular vote to win presidency. Without any sort of broad support, the politics of the country could become even more fractured than they already are. 2. There are alternatives to winner-take-all that do not involve abandoning the positive aspects of the Electoral College. The popular vote eliminates this issue too. In 2016, Gary Johnson received 4.48 million votes and 0 electoral votes, but the potential is always there for this to happen. The National Popular Vote plan is a bill passed by participating state legislatures agreeing that they will cast all of their electoral votes for the presidential candidate winning the nationwide popular vote. A majority of 270 electoral votes is required to elect the president. The horror of a potential national recount is only one of the dangers direct presidential elections poses. Yet, by May 2021, 15 states and Washington, D.C., had signed onto the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. Although faithless electors have not affected the results or outcome of an election yet, in 2016, there were 7 faithless electors. Using the NPV system means that every vote counts the same. In contrast, other issues related to the federal government are not exclusively entrusted to the states, and therefore the states lack the power to alter them. Advantages and Disadvantages of the National Popular Vote Interstate List of the Cons of Using the Popular Vote 1. Colorado is on the verge of joining a nationwide movement that could eventually change how we choose the next president of the United States.
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