While we look further into the National Popular Vote, lets investigate some of its pro and cons for the American democracy. In contrast, in a direct popular election, each vote matters equally. 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. She graduated magna cum laude from Brandeis University with bachelor's degrees in creative writing, English/American literature and international studies. 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. An electoral college would solve . Unexpected emergencies would be difficult to handle. Where the National Popular Vote Plan Stands. sale of united methodist church property. 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. 41 States (with 80% of U.S. population) will be Ignored in the 2024 Presidential Election. 5. It would limit the influence of local issues in the election. Bush and Al Gore (Black). National Popular Vote: A Status Update - FairVote However, many people believe that a direct popular election is more democratic and fair than the Electoral College. A close election would trigger the need for a full recount. That is hardly a mandate for governing, though it would be taken as such. The cost of a presidential election in the United States is already several billion dollars. The National Popular Vote effort, explained The National Popular Vote effort is now halfway to its goal of electing future presidents via the popular vote, after Rhode Island Gov. It is not at all clear that it would similarly prosper under the direct election regime being pushed by NPV. For the 7 presidential elections between 1992-2016, the Republican candidate has won the Electoral college 3 times. It happened once, in 1876. As a result, an agreement between a group of states to cast all of their electoral votes in a similar manner, as proposed by the National Popular Vote plan passes constitutional muster. 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. It is not even a liberal or conservative bill. This brings us to 196 of the 270 electoral votes needed to activate the pact. An individuals vote doesnt make a difference when it is counted against the votes of the delegates in the House of Representatives and Senate. Advantages of the NPV Interstate Compact 1. National Popular Vote proponents argue that the United States has had four presidential elections in which the plurality winner of the popular vote was not chosen as president. on WordPress.com. In theory we could change how we elect our president every four years. To become president of the United States of America, you must be at least 35 years old, have lived in the U.S. for at least 14 years and be a natural-born citizen. As a result, the percentage of popular votes secured by Donald Trump was just 46.4% in comparison with Hilary Clinton, who secured 48.5% of the votes. And in all states but Maine and Nebraska, the candidate who receives the most votes in that state is awarded all of its electoral votes, whether the split is 51% to 49% or 99% to 1%. The National Popular Vote stems from the winner-take-all approach that validates the presidential candidate interactions with only 4 out of 50 dates during their campaign. Louisiana voters should decide who receives Louisiana's electoral votes. The winner would receive one vote per congressional district won with the winner of the state popular vote gaining a two electoral votes. People are moving to live in like-minded communities more than ever before. National popular vote - Ballotpedia 3. But NPV could force our electors to disregard the wishes of the . 8. OKLAHOMA CITY Oklahomans will head to the polls March 7 to decide if the state will become the 22nd in the country to legalize recreational marijuana for use by anyone 21 and older. The Electoral College was established in the Constitution to protect minority interests and mitigate the possibility of a regional candidate. Why National Popular Vote Would Be a Disaster for America (and NPV The horror of a potential national recount is only one of the dangers direct presidential elections poses. Many Americans are confused about how a win is obtained under these conditions and are on a quest to change this traditional statute. Candidates get one vote for every congressional district they win, and then two votes for winning the state-wide vote. Battleground states would disappear in U.S. elections. Since the Constitution and the Bill of Rights became governing documents in the United States, there have only been 17 amendments made to it. Research & Policy - National Conference of State Legislatures The cost of a presidential election in the United States is already several billion dollars. Destroying the Electoral College: The Anti-Federalist National Popular Longley, Robert. Even though pre-election polls made conspicuous predictions of Hilary Clinton winning the presidency and . Now, the states are considering the National Popular Vote plan, a system that, while not doing away with the Electoral College system, would modify it to ensure that the candidate winning the national popular vote is ultimately elected president. Is It Time to Implement a National Popular Vote in Presidential In the U.S., that means people who lean Democratic live in urban areas, while people who lean Republican live in rural areas. Electoral votes are designated among the states based on Census. Definition and Examples. Instead, it modifies the winner-take-all rule in a way its supporters say would assure that every vote will matter in every state in every presidential election. With a popular vote in place, each election win would be decreed a mandate to follow the platform of the winning party. What Is the National Bonus Plan? - Reference.com - What's Your Question? In the 2016 election, "swing states" that might vote Republican or Democrat like Wisconsin were targets of candidates Donald J. Trump and Hillary R. Clinton. (LogOut/ Second, some believe itll intensify election problems, such as illegally extended voting hours or irregularly high voter turnout (Richards). National Popular Vote - Pros and Cons : r/NeutralPolitics - reddit For more information, please see our Michigan Legislature considers plan to enact national popular vote Start and finish your paper with ease. Under the system of proportional representation, any party with a high enough percentage of the vote will receive a seat in the government. The Congressional District method would allocate electoral votes based on the winner of each congressional district. 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. On April 15, 2014 Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York State quietly signed into law the National Popular Vote, making New York the 10th state -- along with the District of Columbia -- to support this effort, while also boosting the total numbers to 165 of the 270 electoral votes needed to make a true national popular vote a reality. 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. However, Hilary Clinton won 2.6 million more popular votes nationwide than Donald Trump. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. But in practice it could happen every 10 or 20 years when the Electoral College votes change because the congressional boundaries change with the new population census. Popular vote better than Electoral College, Stanford scholars say A candidate can win the popular vote in enough states to win a majority of electoral votes but still lose the popular vote nationally. Would you like to get a custom essay? After the process, the President of the Senate reveals who has officially been voted in as President and Vice President of the United States. Copyright 2023 Leaf Group Ltd. / Leaf Group Education, Explore state by state cost analysis of US colleges in an interactive article, Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections: The Electoral College, University of the Pacific: Electoral College Reform, University of Missouri-Kansas City Law School: The Electoral College. The National Bonus Plan maintains the Electoral College voting system but adds 102 bonus electoral votes to the existing 538 votes. It gives each vote an equal amount of power. Activating the National Popular Vote compact would reshape our . Make a contribution to support Common Cause today. 9 Pros and Cons of Electoral College | APECSEC.org This feature is critical to the passionate bipartisan support the compact receives. The Electoral College: An Overview and Analysis of Reform Proposals Longley, Robert. That means the cost of counting all the votes would be duplicated. NCSL conducts policy research in areas ranging from agriculture and budget and tax issues to education and health care to immigration and transportation. If the presidential election were switched to the popular vote, then it would only take about 35% of the vote for a candidate to win. The first problem it creates is the opportunity for the loser of the popular vote to win the electoral vote. Watch out! Although moving to a popular vote election would balance the weight of each vote, it would also create more sway in larger population states. The NPV is a multi-state agreement that, when active, would ensure that the presidential candidate who wins the popular vote nationally also wins in the Electoral College. The popular vote eliminates this issue too. 2. The National Popular Vote Plan to Bypass the Electoral College - ThoughtCo Some states, such as California and Hawaii, both had their bills vetoed by their governors before it was overridden and enacted by state legislators. Candidates feel these states need a little bit more of their attention and apply pressure to supply these states with solutions to their problems in order to gain their vote. That created a voter value of 2.85. To date, the bill has passed at least one legislative chamber in 9 states possessing 82 combined electoral votes: AR, AZ, ME, MI, MN, NC, NV, OK, and OR. Politicians would focus on fewer swing states (Bigger states more potential votes) The method works by electing one elector within each congressional district by popular vote and selecting the remaining two electors by a statewide popular vote. 9. As of December 2020, the bill has been fully adopted predominately by Democratic-majority blue states which delivered the 14 largest vote shares for Barack Obama in the 2012 Presidential Election. 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. District Plan by Hannah Patzer - Prezi Advantages and Disadvantages of the National Popular Vote Interstate It makes things easier for extreme parties to gain representation. In a closely contested direct popular election, every precinct across the country might require close examination, rather than a handful of states or precincts. Moving to the popular vote structure would eliminate this potential issue. Robert Longley is a U.S. government and history expert with over 30 years of experience in municipal government and urban planning. The use of the Electoral College has been the only approach the U.S. has used to gain a President, but this way has generated numerous issues. 6. But we're closer to that than you might think 15 states and the District of Columbia have already signed on, providing 196 electoral votes of the needed 270. Because every vote is equal inside Ohio or Florida, presidential candidates avidly seek out voters in small, medium, and large towns. In U.S. history, the electoral college winner has failed to secure the popular vote 5 times. 10 Apr. By adding this new interstate compact to the Electoral College/Winner-Take-All system to elect our president we are in fact making this system even more complicated and even harder for the voters to understand. The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is an agreement where states in the compact award all their electoral votes to the winner of the . National Popular Vote (NPV) - InfluenceWatch The appeal of NPV is the simplicity of its message. The NPV Interstate Compact does not eliminate the very complicated Electoral College system that most voters dont really understand. 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. Without change, a plan for a national popular vote could undermine the Rebekah Richards is a professional writer with work published in the "Atlanta Journal-Constitution," "Brandeis University Law Journal" and online at tolerance.org. "The National Popular Vote Plan." It seeks to be a bulwark against mass hysteria and the hysteria created by mass media. These are the states that may go to either major party candidate in the election. Instead of a direct popular election, the United States has the Electoral College, a group of electors who represent each state's votes. Under the Electoral College/Winner-Take-All system votes in small states, like Wyoming or Delaware count double what votes in large states like California or Texas. The United States does not have direct election of its president, yet most national, state and local offices are filled by the candidate with the most votes. It has been enacted into law in 11 states with 165 electoral votes, and will take effect when enacted by states with 105 more. By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. There are alternatives to winner-take-all that do not involve abandoning the positive aspects of the Electoral College. Even if states impose fines on faithless electors for their actions, it is not a guarantee that the behavior will stop. Similarly, because a national campaign mandates a national message, there would also be a smaller incentive for coalition-building or taking into account the characteristics, needs and desires of citizens in differing states and regions. Get breaking news and updates from Common Cause. Poly Sci Final Flashcards | Quizlet document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Inside Ohio or Florida, to pick two examples, the big cities do not receive all the attention, and they certainly do not control the outcome. National Popular Vote compact pros and cons. This National Popular Vote Compact wouldn't take effect until states with 270 electors a majority joined in. Security would be improved across the country. The votes of those who do not live in closely divided battleground states effectively count less. Electoral college reform proposals include (1) the district plan, awarding each state's two at-large electoral votes to the statewide popular vote winners, and one electoral vote to the winning candidates in each congressional district; (2) the proportional plan, awarding electoral votes in states in direct proportion to the popular vote gained All states could adopt the system that now exists in Maine and Nebraska, where all but two electors are chosen by congressional district, and the other two go to the statewide winner. 2. Either would provide a reason for both parties to compete in most states because there would be electors to win. Lawmakers discuss plan to enact National Popular Vote in Michigan As of July 2020, a National Popular Vote bill has been signed into law in 16 states controlling a total of 196 electoral votes, including 4 small states, 8 medium-sized states, 3 big states (California, Illinois, and New York), and the District of Columbia. 4. and our National Popular Vote values rural and urban voters equally. That structure makes it easier for extremist views to find official representation. 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. National Popular Vote Plan page 3 that non-member states that fail to hold such elections will not be included in the determination of 'the national popular vote winner.' This sidesteps the problem and provides an incentive for all states (non-members as well as members) to (continue to) hold such elections. According to the University of Missouri-Kansas City Law School, some proponents of the Electoral College argue that it isolates election problems, such as illegally extended voting hours or irregularly high voter turnout. Opines that the national popular vote plan is the wrong way to abolith the electoral college. 48 Vitosha Boulevard, ground floor, 1000, Sofia, Bulgaria, Samploon, Inc. 2022. Going to the popular vote would eliminate this issue altogether. All other elections in the U.S. are through the popular vote. The danger of NPV is that it will undermine the complex and vital underpinnings of American democracy. Constitutional Amendment to Guarantee the Right to Vote for All U.S. Citizens. The official 2016 election results from the Electoral College gave Donald J. Trump the victory with 306 electoral votes v. Hillary Clinton's 232 votes. The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC) is an agreement among a group of U.S. states and the District of Columbia to award all their electoral votes to whichever presidential ticket wins the overall popular vote in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. 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. University of Colorado Boulder Under the current structure of presidential elections in the U.S., the states become a battleground of red states vs. blue states. Either would likely produce an electoral vote count closer to the popular vote. Mayors, governors, and senators are all elected by a simple majority. That nightmare may seem like a pleasant dream if NPV has its way. It has been enacted into law in 11 states with 165 electoral votes, and will take effect when enacted by states with 105 more. National Popular Vote: Circumventing the United States Constitution And unlike direct elections, either would provide an incentive for grass-roots activity, coalition building and enhanced citizen participation. Probably the NPV Compact would be enacted into law with as little as a simple majority of the states and possibly even less. More people live in urban regions, which means they would have a constant sway over the election. Removing this system could encourage more people to come out to support their candidate. Six Reasons to Reject National Popular Vote - Pelican Policy The advantage of this system is that it preserves the preferences of. Note: Today we are in a phase where the popular vote in presidential elections leans Democratic. In 2016, Hillary Clinton had more than 10 million of these votes, while Donald Trump had more than 8.3 million, even though Trump won 30 states and Clinton won 20 and the District of Columbia. Although faithless electors have not affected the results or outcome of an election yet, in 2016, there were 7 faithless electors. 13 Early College High School Pros and Cons, 18 Major Advantages and Disadvantages of the Payback Period, 20 Advantages and Disadvantages of Leasing a Car, 19 Advantages and Disadvantages of Debt Financing, 24 Key Advantages and Disadvantages of a C Corporation, 16 Biggest Advantages and Disadvantages of Mediation, 18 Advantages and Disadvantages of a Gated Community, 17 Big Advantages and Disadvantages of Focus Groups, 17 Key Advantages and Disadvantages of Corporate Bonds, 19 Major Advantages and Disadvantages of Annuities, 17 Biggest Advantages and Disadvantages of Advertising. The second advantage is that the all votes would be equally weighed (Richards). A candidate may not have to concentrate anymore, but they may have to move their attention to states such as Texas, New York, California, and Alaska. Although the 20th Amendment to the Constitution provides clarity to this situation, that process is based on the electoral college. 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. However, in the popular vote, Trump only received 62,984,825 votes against Hillary Clinton's 65,853,516 popular votes. I will explain that in another blog post. And that would lead to chaos in how political parties campaign for president and could also undermine the legitimacy of the process. Feb 25, 2023. A popular vote structure would virtually eliminate the idea of a third-party candidate having a chance in an election. It would eliminate the Congressional provisions for a non-majority 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. And thats not how it should be in a 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. But sometime in the future the popular vote will change back and lean Republican. 5. Presidential candidates have no reason to poll, visit, advertise, organize, or campaign in states that they cannot possibly win or lose; in 2016, 68% of presidential campaign visits took place in just six states. It would reduce the influence of third parties on the U.S. presidential election. 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). That would give the Compact states only 3 days( and two of those days were weekend days) to certify their state votes. Even the minority party wouldnt be encouraged to negotiate because they could simply stall until the next election. 2. 2. Electing a president who did not have broad regional support could lead to a fractured and less cohesive country, according to the Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. I fear that most, if not all, of the states signing onto the NPV Compact will be just blue states. Only Nebraska and Maine do not. There are pros and cons to both systems. The principal flaw in the plan is its assumption that under the plan there will still be only two major parties competing for the presidency in 2020. . I am confident that when we enter the next phase where the popular vote leans Republican that Republicans will change and be adamant that we should elect the president by direct popular vote and Democrats will be arguing why we should keep the Electoral College/Winner-Take-All system. Oklahoma voters weigh pros, cons of legalizing recreational marijuana
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cons of the national popular vote plan