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%. 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. ThoughtCo, Dec. 16, 2020, thoughtco.com/the-national-popular-vote-plan-3322047. In a direct popular election, a candidate could theoretically win without having broad support throughout the country. 4. More attention is given to the swing states, such as Florida and Iowa, which causes the third problem the Electoral College can cause. Wyoming had just 3 electoral votes, but only had 255,000 voters as well. cons of the national popular vote plan - demo.bobbiclayton.com After the 2016 presidential election, political science expert Nate Silver wrote that, since the swing states are not likely to support any plan that might reduce their influence over control of the White House, the National Popular Vote bill will not succeed unless the predominately Republican red states adopt it. That means some voters, like Republicans in California or Democrats in Mississippi, are voting without power and without attention from their preferred candidates each year. However, many people believe that a direct popular election is more democratic and fair than the Electoral College. Just another site cons of the national popular vote plan . A switch to the popular vote would eliminate the concept of a battleground state because the issue would be more on issues than states. In the case of a tie, there are contingencies in place to determine which person will serve in the elected office. 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. With a popular vote in place, each election win would be decreed a mandate to follow the platform of the winning party. And that would undermine the legitimacy of the NPV among those people. 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. Weve already seen this issue take place with the GOP primaries in 2016. Colorado is on the verge of joining a nationwide movement that could eventually change how we choose the next president of the United States. Is the Electoral College a Problem? Does It Need to Be Fixed? Samploon is a database of free essay samples. According to Article II, Section 1, "Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress." N.p., n.d. When a popular vote is held for a national office, the election becomes more about platform issues than local issues. PDF Problems With the National Popular Vote Plan Either would likely produce an electoral vote count closer to the popular vote. Image the country thinks it is going to elect the president by National Popular Vote and then changing back to using the old Electoral College/Winner-Take-All system just four months before an election. Menu burger Close thin Facebook Twitter Google plus Linked in Reddit Email arrow-right-sm arrow-right Loading Home Buying Calculators This is a situation that has caused controversy in the election years of of 1800, 1876, 1888, 2000 and 2016 when the elected president won the Electoral College and the presidency but did not win the popular vote. Cookie Notice We have seen this outcome in the 2016 Presidential election between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump and in the 2000 election between George H.W. 1. 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 National Popular Vote Plan. (LogOut/ 7. It gives each vote an equal amount of power. Under the system of proportional representation, any party with a high enough percentage of the vote will receive a seat in the government. Only Nebraska and Maine do not. Many cities and school districts, under threat of a lawsuit by a Malibu attorney, have already adopted or are in the process of changing to district elections rather than remaining citywide or . It happened once, in 1876. The Case Against the Popular Vote | The New Republic 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. This type of system would give the individual voter a much more significant influence. Louisiana voters should decide who receives Louisiana's electoral votes. cons of the national popular vote plan cons of the national popular vote plan - vidasproductivas.org And that would lead to chaos in how political parties campaign for president and could also undermine the legitimacy of the process. 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 2023 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved. Congressional District Method - Electoral College Reform - Weebly There are pros and cons to both systems. Each states electoral votes are tallied by Congress in the House chamber by House and Senate representatives on the 6th day of January following the Presidential election. Over the long run the countrys popular vote in presidential elections has roughly been equally split between Republican and Democratic.*. cons of the national popular vote plan Rebekah Richards is a professional writer with work published in the "Atlanta Journal-Constitution," "Brandeis University Law Journal" and online at tolerance.org. 1. Under the plan, Michigan's 15 Electoral . Some areas may bend the rules of an election by extending voting hours illegally. . All other elections in the U.S. are through the popular vote. NPV is more than a third of the way to its goal. cons of the national popular vote plansuper lemon haze greenhouse. Second, some believe itll intensify election problems, such as illegally extended voting hours or irregularly high voter turnout (Richards). The National Popular Vote Plan to Bypass the Electoral College - ThoughtCo Nevada passed the legislation in 2019, but Gov. If a popular vote were allowed to declare a winner instead, it wouldnt be through a state-by-state counting of electoral votes. Web. The discussion around using the popular vote for elections has increased since the results of the 2016 election. 10 Apr. PBS: What does voter turnout tell us about the 2016 election. It would eliminate superfluous votes. Lastly, it may cause a third-party candidate to prevail and win, which would allow Americans to be given more choices besides the two primary parties (Richards). Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. Yes. This feature is critical to the passionate bipartisan support the compact receives. University of Colorado Boulder Do you have information you want to share with HuffPost? 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. Their answer is simple: one in which every citizen's vote is equal to every other citizen's vote and one in which the winner of the presidential popular vote, no matter how small his or her percentage is of those who voted, would be elected. Advantages of the NPV Interstate Compact 1. I fear that most, if not all, of the states signing onto the NPV Compact will be just blue states. 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. Research & Policy - National Conference of State Legislatures The years-old effort is slowly making its way through state legislatures in hopes of changing the way At the moment, 98 more electoral votes are needed to pass this bill in all 50 states (National Conference of State Legislators). Advantages and Disadvantages of the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact In the 2016 Presidential Election if the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact had been in effect the winner of the national popular vote, Hillary Clinton, would have become president instead of Donald Trump. National Popular Vote compact pros and cons. That, in turn, would likely diminish voter turnout. Thats the way it has been in this country for a long time. In the 2020 general election, a ballot proposition attempted to overturn Colorado's membership to the pact, but the measure failed, 52.3% to 47.7% in the referendum. The National Popular Vote proposal is doomed if even only - LSE Blogs Hillary Clinton, but won the electoral vote to become the 45thPresident of the United States. ashburnham school committee; its his baby now political cartoon meaning; softstar primal sawyer An individuals vote doesnt make a difference when it is counted against the votes of the delegates in the House of Representatives and Senate. Bush and Al Gore (Black). 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. In the 2000 presidential election, Al Gore won the popular vote by more than 500,000 ballots, but George Bush became president by winning the Electoral College 271 to 266. The Pros and Cons of the Electoral College - SmartAsset The electoral college is a tradition of American politics that's fairly controversial. That offers the possibility that someone unwilling or unable to hold the office could be elected. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Lincoln Chafee (D) made his state the latest to sign on. Activating the National Popular Vote compact would reshape our . 3. For the popular vote, however, Hillary Clinton received 65.8 million votes, while Donald Trump received 62.9 million votes. People are moving to live in like-minded communities more than ever before. It makes things easier for extreme parties to gain representation. Here are the essential pros and cons of popular vote elections to examine. Although faithless electors have not affected the results or outcome of an election yet, in 2016, there were 7 faithless electors. Electoral College Pros and Cons - ThoughtCo National Popular Vote Movement - Common Cause | Get Involved Removing this system could encourage more people to come out to support their candidate. A candidate could be elected without the popular vote. And thats not how it should be in a democracy. 5. The National Bonus Plan maintains the Electoral College voting system but adds 102 bonus electoral votes to the existing 538 votes. Not only it already happened five times, but in theory, a candidate could win the presidency with only 22% of the popular vote in a two-candidates race. In the U.S., that means people who lean Democratic live in urban areas, while people who lean Republican live in rural areas. She graduated magna cum laude from Brandeis University with bachelor's degrees in creative writing, English/American literature and international studies. However, in the popular vote, Trump only received 62,984,825 votes against Hillary Clinton's 65,853,516 popular votes. In fact, the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, which has now been adopted by 15 states and the District of Columbia, totaling 196 electoral votes, is an actionable and realistic . It has also happened four times out of the 56 presidential elections. Surprisingly enough, the National Popular Vote bill could possibly bring forth some problems. pros and cons." dave leip's atlas of u.s. presidential elections. what connection type is known as "always on"? A direct popular election also ensures that citizens' votes have equal weight. 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. These battleground or swing states receive 7% more federal grants, twice as many presidential disaster declarations, more Superfund enforcement exemptions, and more No Child Left Behind law exemptions (National Popular Vote). The bill has crossed paths with 36 legislative chambers and has been sponsored or voted for by 3,112 state legislators (National Popular Vote). 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. The states that join the NPV Compact will not be able to certify their Electoral College Votes until all 50 states and DC certify their state popular votes and any mandated/requested recounts since the Compact state ECVs are dependent on the winner of the national popular vote and not just their own state popular votes. In 6 Elections, 2 Near-Misses (2020, 2004) and 2 Second-Place Presidents (2016, 2000) National Popular Vote Has Been Enacted into Law in 16 Jurisdictions with 195 Electoral Votes. 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. 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. Also the NPV Compact allows states to withdraw from the compact as late as four months before an election. It has been enacted by twelve states, which include Rhode Island, Vermont, Hawaii, the District of Columbia, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Washington, New Jersey, Illinois, New York, and California. In each instance the republic has survived, and democracy has prospered despite the challenges presented. 27 Major Pros & Cons Of The Electoral College - E&C In 2016, Florida had 29 electoral votes and 9.4 million voters, created a voter value of 0.72. A plan to enact the National Popular Vote was introduced in the Michigan Legislature on Wednesday. Although this may limit the amount of diversity that occurs in office, and may generate extra financial costs, the argument could be made that these risks outweigh the results of an election where a majority of states, not a majority of people, put someone into office. Pros And Cons Of Popular Vote - 558 Words | Studymode 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. That is hardly a mandate for governing, though it would be taken as such. 7. Evidence as to how a nationwide presidential campaign would be run can be found by examining the way presidential candidates currently campaign inside battleground states. Poly Sci Final Flashcards | Quizlet The senators in the U.S. Senate make up two votes in addition to the votes that represent the number of its members in the U.S. House of Representatives (Archives). 18 Pros and Cons of Popular Vote - Vittana.org The issue raised by the National Popular Vote campaign is fundamental: What kind of a democracy should America be? During a popular vote, a candidate who withdraws from the race or dies before the election can be held could still be on the ballot. Six Reasons to Reject National Popular Vote - Pelican Policy Unexpected emergencies would be difficult to handle. The appeal of NPV is the simplicity of its message. 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 Constitution specifically leaves details like how the electoral votes are cast up to the states. National Popular Vote values rural and urban voters equally. It fails to reach the ideal of one-person one-vote. But the national popular vote plan doesn't require a . 5. However, some critics argue that the advantages of a direct popular election including reflecting democratic principals, outweigh the disadvantages. cons of the national popular vote plan. Currently, candidates focus more on swing and battleground states to help them gain those electoral votes. Destroying the Electoral College: The Anti-Federalist National Popular cons of the national popular vote plan. NCSL's experts are here to answer your questions and give you unbiased, comprehensive information as soon as you need it on issues facing state legislatures. Steve Sisolak vetoed it. 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. For example, if a state used NPV and voted for candidate A, but candidate B received the most votes nationwide, the state would allocate its presidential electors to candidate B. The compact is designed to ensure that the candidate who receives the most votes nationwide is elected president, and it . It would eliminate the threat of a faithless elector. national popular vote plan pros and cons - shipoom.com 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. What Is the National Bonus Plan? - Reference.com - What's Your Question? But if some non-member Electoral College pros and cons: is popular vote better? - netivist "The National Popular Vote bill would guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in the entire U.S. Inicio; Nota Biografica; Obra; Blogs. 1. This was the intent of the Founding Fathers. Start and finish your paper with ease. Where the National Popular Vote Plan Stands. The cost of a presidential election in the United States is already several billion dollars. 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. . The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC) is an agreement among states and the District of Columbia to award their respective electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote of the presidential election. Imperfect, because its modern-day blessings -- enhancing coalition building, pluralism, federalism and grass-roots participation -- are enjoyed only by a minority of states (in any given presidential election 18 or 20), where the battle for electoral votes is competitive for both major parties. Moving to the popular vote structure would eliminate this potential issue. 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. 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. "The National Popular Vote Plan." Without the popular vote bill, swing states would continue to get more leverage and attention from candidates to ensure that they would be able to capture their votes. (LogOut/ National popular vote - Ballotpedia I will explain that in another blog post. 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. Some critics argue that more people would vote in a direct popular election, according to the University of the Pacific. 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 of the 2000 presidential election. The country could become less stable and divided if he or she did not have a vast amount of support (Richards). 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 Imagine a scenario where a presidential candidate focuses on Los Angeles, New York City, Portland, OR and Seattle. Two-thirds of the campaign events were in four states, Florida, Iowa, Virginia, and Ohio, that year. 1. State Question 820 lays out a statutory framework for a recreational industry that would begin about 90 days after election results are certified. 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.. 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 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 A Critique of the National Popular Vote | Cato Institute 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. National Popular Vote Interstate Compact - Wikipedia 2. Probably the NPV Compact would be enacted into law with as little as a simple majority of the states and possibly even less. Lawmakers discuss plan to enact National Popular Vote in Michigan. However that presumably rare exception happened in the 2000 election when Florida could not complete their statewide recount in time for the Electoral College deadline and the Supreme Court forced Florida to use their first vote count without a statewide recount. 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. A popular vote election takes all ballots that are cast, counts them, and declares the winner based on who received the most votes. But don't forget, Bush won the popular vote four years later by three million votes. Advantages and Disadvantages of the National Popular Vote Interstate It is our national motto and is so for a reason. However, this also means that regions with a quite low population density will almost have no influence on the election outcome at all since they only have far too few votes to make a real difference. 3. The electoral college encourages a two-party system and rewards candidates who have broad appeal. Robert Longley is a U.S. government and history expert with over 30 years of experience in municipal government and urban planning. Part of HuffPost Politics. First it would be relatively easy to implement. cons of the national popular vote planchicago religious demographics. Instead, each state and Washington D.C. is assigned a certain number of electoral votes based on its population. 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. The Electoral College was established in the Constitution to protect minority interests and mitigate the possibility of a regional candidate. This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform.