Lastly, the biggest problem that the Electoral College produces is the reality that a persons vote really doesnt matter (Black). As the National Popular Vote (NPV) movement steps up its effort to impose a direct election for president, attempting to enlist states with a sufficient number of electors to constitute a majority (268) and to bind them to the winner of the national popular vote, those states considering the proposal might first reflect on the nightmare aftermath This brings us to 196 of the 270 electoral votes needed to activate the pact. It was a great idea in 1787 but the country has changed since 1787 and the people today want to elect the president by a simple, direct popular vote where whoever gets the most votes wins like we do in every other election in the country. National Popular Vote - Pros and Cons "The National Popular Vote bill would guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in the entire U.S. In the U.S., that means people who lean Democratic live in urban areas, while people who lean Republican live in rural areas. For under its plan, the next time the U.S. has very close national vote, a recount would not be of six million votes in one state but of more than 130 million votes in all states and the District of Columbia, all with their own rules for conducting a recount. It fails to reach the ideal of one-person one-vote. Only Nebraska and Maine do not. All other votes cast for that candidate are therefore superfluous. The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact collectively apportions votes to the winner of the overall popular vote without a constitutional amendment abolishing the electoral college or the assent of Congress. It gives each vote an equal amount of power. The last amendment, the 27th Amendment to the Constitution, was ratified nearly 200 years after it was originally proposed. It could help to reduce partisanship. Constitutional Amendment to Guarantee the Right to Vote for All U.S. Citizens. 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. For the 7 presidential elections between 1992-2016, the Republican candidate has won the Electoral college 3 times. 5. Proponents of the National Popular Vote fail to understand the most basic facts about the American presidential electoral system. Mayors, governors, and senators are all elected by a simple majority. Bosque de Palabras Electoral votes are designated among the states based on Census. The Electoral College is made up of 538 electors and a majority of 270 electoral votes is mandatory to nominate the President. 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. The issue raised by the National Popular Vote campaign is fundamental: What kind of a democracy should America be? Menu burger Close thin Facebook Twitter Google plus Linked in Reddit Email arrow-right-sm arrow-right Loading Home Buying Calculators Although it is sometimes conjectured that a national popular election would focus only on big cities, it is clear that this would not be the case. 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. The first advantage allows for electoral votes to be fairer than the Electoral College (Richards). Candidates get one vote for every congressional district they win, and then two votes for winning the state-wide vote. Over the years, the National Popular Vote bill has been introduced in the legislatures of all 50 states. The cost of a presidential election in the United States is already several billion dollars. On Dec. 22, 2016, the results were certified in all 50 states. That created a voter value of 2.85. Currently, the National Popular Vote bill has 172 electoral votes. (2021, Jun 14). Surprisingly enough, the National Popular Vote bill could possibly bring forth some problems. But the biggest problem with changing how we elect our president using the NPV Compact is that its too easy to change it back. How Many Electoral Votes Does a Candidate Need to Win? 1. Advantage: Encourages Voter Turnout The NPVIC is an agreement among states designed to guarantee election of the presidential candidate who wins the most popular votes in the 50 states and Washington, D.C. NPV is grounded in two powers delegated to states by the Constitution: the power to design rules for awarding their electoral votes and the power to enter into interstate Bush and Al Gore (Black). Currently, candidates focus more on swing and battleground states to help them gain those electoral votes. A plan to enact the National Popular Vote was introduced in the Michigan Legislature on Wednesday. Because a direct election would be, by definition, national and resource allocation would be overwhelmingly dominated by paid television advertising, there would be little impetus for grass-roots activity. a plan for a national popular vote could undermine the . And that would undermine the legitimacy of the NPV among those people. The winner-take-all rule is not required by the Constitution and was actually used by only three states in the nation's first presidential election in 1789. 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. Opines that the national popular vote plan is the wrong way to abolith the electoral college. However, a popular vote system, although hard to implement, is a more purely democratic system than the Electoral College. Each vote would affect each candidate instead of being overlooked due to which state those votes would be coming from. Once enacted, the participating states would cast all of their electoral votes for the presidential candidate winning the nationwide popular vote, thus ensuring that candidate the required 270 electoral votes. Past Event: The League of Women Voters of Berrien and Cass Counties has announced plans to broadcast a webinar discussing the National Popular Vote (NPV) on Monday, Feb. 27 at 7:00 p.m. National Popular Vote has been leading the campaign to fix the electoral college and elect the president by national popular vote since its founding in 2006 . This has occurred in only four of the 58 presidential . A close election would trigger the need for a full recount. 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. Either would provide a reason for both parties to compete in most states because there would be electors to win. It knows that a majoritarianism that produces a plurality is not the voice of a majority of the citizenry. Due to some states being heavily populated in comparison to others, that may help a candidate quickly obtain a win. 1. cons of the national popular vote planchicago religious demographics. It awards all the bonus votes to the winner of the popular vote. The second advantage is that the all votes would be equally weighed (Richards). 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. 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. Nevada passed the legislation in 2019, but Gov. And thats not how it should be in a democracy. Then, election officials in all participating states would choose the electors sworn to support thepresidential candidate who received the largest number of popular votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. It has also happened four times out of the 56 presidential elections. Hence, the National Popular Vote plan is an interstate compact a type of state law authorized by the U.S. Constitution that enables states to enter into a legally enforceable, contractual obligation to undertake agreed joint actions, which may be delayed in implementation until a requisite number of states join in. Candidates feel they either cant win or lose with the votes from these states. Maryland and New Jersey passed this bill in 2007, Hawaii and Illinois in 2008, Washington in 2009, Massachusetts and the District of Columbia in 2010, California and Vermont in 2011, Rhode Island in 2013, New York in 2014 and Connecticut in 2018. F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush were elected with less than a majority of the votes cast. 48 Vitosha Boulevard, ground floor, 1000, Sofia, Bulgaria, Samploon, Inc. 2022. Definition and Examples, Learn How Many Total Electoral Votes There Are. For the popular vote, however, Hillary Clinton received 65.8 million votes, while Donald Trump received 62.9 million votes. A popular vote election takes all ballots that are cast, counts them, and declares the winner based on who received the most votes. Among the others: By its very size and scope, a national direct election will lead to nothing more than a national media campaign, which would propel the parties' media consultants to inflict upon the entire nation what has been heretofore limited to the so-called battleground states: an ever-escalating, distorted arms race of tit-for-tat unanswerable attack advertising polluting the airwaves, denigrating every candidate and eroding citizen faith in their leaders and the political process as a whole. In 2016, Gary Johnson received 4.48 million votes and 0 electoral votes, but the potential is always there for this to happen. 9. Thats how politics works in America. It would eliminate the threat of a faithless elector. 2. 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. Lastly, some Americans believe that there would be an increase in voter turn-out if people felt that their vote was viewed as a significant asset to their country. 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. Richards earned a master's degree at Carnegie Mellon University. Start and finish your paper with ease. Is this a solution to first past the post or is it merely reinforcing our current two party system? The states' approval of the compact is a victory for democracy and the principle of "one person, one vote." Under the system of proportional representation, any party with a high enough percentage of the vote will receive a seat in the government. . 4. All samples were added by students. Lincoln Chafee (D) made his state the latest to sign on. It would reduce the threshold necessary to win the office. This was the intent of the Founding Fathers. Battleground states would disappear in U.S. elections. Thats the way it has been in this country for a long time. The United States has a representative democracy rather than a direct democracy: Citizens elect representatives rather than voting on each bill. Although the 20th Amendment to the Constitution provides clarity to this situation, that process is based on the electoral college. PBS: What does voter turnout tell us about the 2016 election. It is also true that no president since 1824 has received the votes of a majority of the eligible voters and 18 presidents, including Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, Harry S. Truman, John. 7. Make a contribution to support Common Cause today. Because of the Winner-Take-All state laws candidates for president only campaign and spend their money in 12-13 swing states because voters in those few swing states determine who wins the election and presidential candidates totally ignore voters in the rest of the country(except to raise money). 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. Voters in spectator states, including five of the nations 10 most populous states (California, Texas, New York, Illinois, and New Jersey), and 12 of the 13 least populous states (all but New Hampshire) have no real incentive to go to the polls as their votes do not affect the outcome of the election. Though the original, some would say highly undemocratic, purpose. Security would be improved across the country. It understands that while the nation is one union, it is also an amalgam of varying experiences and perspectives arrived at via the settings and unique problems surrounding those who live in different places, and that these differences fall within the broad rubric of federalism. If this happens many people in the red states will not feel that the change is legitimate even if its legal and technically constitutional. Disadvantages of the NPV Interstate Compact. I fear that most, if not all, of the states signing onto the NPV Compact will be just blue states. Under the Electoral College system, voters in states that are overwhelmingly in support of one candidate might feel like their vote is unimportant. Our state will likely vote overwhelmingly for the Republican challenger to Barack Obama in November. Because every vote is equal inside Ohio or Florida, presidential candidates avidly seek out voters in small, medium, and large towns. It isnt impossible to pass a Constitutional amendment, though history shows that it is not an easy process to complete. 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. NPV is more than a third of the way to its goal. The states would implement this plan once enough states controlling 270 electoral votes have signed on, guaranteeing that the national popular vote winner will win the presidency.. 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. Note: Today we are in a phase where the popular vote in presidential elections leans Democratic. It is our national motto and is so for a reason. 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. Using the NPV system means that every vote counts the same. Currently, 48 of the 50 states follow the winner-take-all rule. It would eliminate the Congressional provisions for a non-majority election. Right now, the President of the United States is not elected by a popular vote. A Critique of the National Popular Vote October 13, 2008 Policy Analysis No. An electoral college would solve . By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. 1. A candidate can win the popular vote in enough states to win a majority of electoral votes but still lose the popular vote nationally. The Electoral College distorts presidential campaigns . 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. 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. That, in turn, would likely diminish voter turnout. It would limit the influence of local issues in the election. That would give the Compact states only 3 days( and two of those days were weekend days) to certify their state votes. Resource allocation would be focused on paid advertising, which would negate the need for grassroots activities. 8. Analyzes how william c. kimberling, the deputy director of the federal election commission, is a credible author over the issue. 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.
Webex Player No Sound Through Headphones,
What Percentage Of Tv Commercials Are For Drugs,
Little Folks Furniture,
Articles C
