Under the Electoral College system, voters in states that are overwhelmingly in support of one candidate might feel like their vote is unimportant. Under the current structure of the electoral college, the focus of a presidential campaign is on the so-called battleground states. 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. There are pros and cons to both systems. But if some non-member Where the National Popular Vote Plan Stands. 2. Thats how politics works in America. 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. 10 Apr. 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. 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. Washington, DC 20005, Common Cause pays tribute to our leader, our friend, and a lifelong advocate for our democracy, Constitution, Courts & Other Democracy Issues, Ensure Fair Districts & Reflective Democracy, Expand Voting Rights & Election Integrity, Promote Free Speech & Accountability in Media, Protect the Constitution, Courts & Other Democracy Reforms. 27 Major Pros & Cons Of The Electoral College - E&C 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. on WordPress.com. Because of the state Winner-Take-All rules, which arent even part of the Constitution, they can lead to presidential elections where the winner of the election doesnt have the most popular votes. When the Constitution was set in place in 1789, the U.S. elected its first president. Would you like to get a custom essay? 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. . Because there was a difference of less than 1,000 tabulated votes between George W. Bush and Al Gore in one state, Florida, the nation watched as 6 million votes were recounted by machine, several hundred thousand were recounted by hand in counties with differing recount standards, partisan litigators fought each other in state and federal courts, the secretary of state backed by the majority of state legislators (all Republicans) warred with the state's majority Democratic judiciary -- until 37 days after the election the U.S. Supreme Court, in a bitterly controversial 5-4 decision effectively declared Bush the winner. The one-vote approach does not align with the way the electoral votes operates. 7. 2. 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). 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. Unexpected emergencies would be difficult to handle. Just 12 Closely Divided Battleground States Got 96% of 2020 Campaign Events. I fear that most, if not all, of the states signing onto the NPV Compact will be just blue states. Even though pre-election polls made conspicuous predictions of Hilary Clinton winning the presidency and . (2021, Jun 14). 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. And that would lead to chaos in how political parties campaign for president and could also undermine the legitimacy of the process. 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. 2015. 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. 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. 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. Steve Sisolak vetoed it. Make a contribution to support Common Cause today. A plan to enact the National Popular Vote was introduced in the Michigan Legislature on Wednesday. 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. 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. 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. The years-old effort is slowly making its way through state legislatures in hopes of changing the way The Pros and Cons of the Electoral College - SmartAsset And finally, the Electoral College doesnt work today anywhere near how the Founding Fathers intended it to work when they created it back in 1787. 5. 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. 4. If that was to take place, America could potentially face the same issues it is facing now. 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. Their vote only counts at the local level, not the national level, because of the electoral votes. A popular vote system would significantly impact voters and turnout. A close election would trigger the need for a full recount. 3. national popular vote plan pros and cons - shipoom.com First it would be relatively easy to implement. A direct popular election also ensures that citizens' votes have equal weight. They have only won the popular vote once. 8. That created a voter value of 2.85. 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. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. There are logistical issues that are managed at the local level in each election. Others may struggle to meet higher than expected voter turnout levels. Our state will likely vote overwhelmingly for the Republican challenger to Barack Obama in November. It is not at all clear that it would similarly prosper under the direct election regime being pushed by NPV. The states' approval of the compact is a victory for democracy and the principle of "one person, one vote." Or states might explore what was recently proposed in Colorado -- that electors be allocated in proportion to each candidate's share of the popular vote above a certain threshold. Inicio; Nota Biografica; Obra; Blogs. The President-Elect takes the oath of office and is sworn in as President of the United States on January 20th in the year following the Presidential election (Archives). This feature is critical to the passionate bipartisan support the compact receives. That would increase the amount of polarization being experienced in politics today because there would be less of a need to compromise. Cookie Notice There would be a reduced need to build coalitions. 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. Pros And Cons Of Popular Vote - 558 Words | Studymode However, many people believe that a direct popular election is more democratic and fair than the Electoral College. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. 12th Amendment: Fixing the Electoral College, What Is Majoritarianism? 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. That offers the possibility that someone unwilling or unable to hold the office could be elected. For the 7 presidential elections between 1992-2016, the Republican candidate has won the Electoral college 3 times. 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. Here are the essential pros and cons of popular vote elections to examine. 6. With the polarization in global politics today, especially in the United States, a switch to the popular vote would likely increase costs even further. The Pros and Cons of the Electoral College - SmartAsset The electoral college is a tradition of American politics that's fairly controversial. 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. Resource allocation would be focused on paid advertising, which would negate the need for grassroots activities. 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). 2. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. This text is available online and is used for gudiance and inspiration, We use cookies to give you the best experience possible. 4. To take effect, the National Popular Vote bill must be enacted by the state legislatures of states controlling a total of 270 electoral votes - a majority of the overall 538 electoral votes and the number currently required to elect a president. 3. Should that happen, then the final decision of who gets to serve as President of the United States is taken away from individual voters. Because of the winner-take-all rule, a candidate can be elected president without winning the most popular votes nationwide. Yet, by May 2021, 15 states and Washington, D.C., had signed onto the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. Colorado is on the verge of joining a nationwide movement that could eventually change how we choose the next president of the United States. Feb 25, 2023. cons of the national popular vote plan - demo.bobbiclayton.com And thats not how it should be in a democracy. Probably the NPV Compact would be enacted into law with as little as a simple majority of the states and possibly even less. Get breaking news and updates from Common Cause. And unlike direct elections, either would provide an incentive for grass-roots activity, coalition building and enhanced citizen participation. 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. Advantages of the NPV Interstate Compact 1. All in all, the Electoral College causes many problems that seem unfair to American voters during such an important election. The first problem it creates is the opportunity for the loser of the popular vote to win the electoral vote. Before the 2016 election, the largest vote deficit in the popular vote was Al Gore securing over 500,000 votes more than George W. Bush. It fails to reach the ideal of one-person one-vote. 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. NCSL conducts policy research in areas ranging from agriculture and budget and tax issues to education and health care to immigration and transportation. Many of these states dont participate in campaign visits or get televised ads. 1, 2023 at 1:16 PM PST. If this happens many people in the red states will not feel that the change is legitimate even if its legal and technically constitutional. In theory that could happen every four years. This divide creates natural divisions between groups of people who both support their country, but in different ways. Moving to the popular vote structure would eliminate this potential issue. (LogOut/ Thats a bank of about 14 million potential voters that reliably vote as a majority for Democratic candidates. cons of the national popular vote plan If a popular vote were allowed to declare a winner instead, it wouldnt be through a state-by-state counting of electoral votes. The pros and cons of the popular vote structure of an election allow for the majority to have their say in who they wish to serve. But the biggest problem with changing how we elect our president using the NPV Compact is that its too easy to change it back. 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. It would reduce the threshold necessary to win the office. The alternative view of democracy is more complex; it is one that includes but is not limited to the pursuit of equality. Under the electoral college system, the candidates which receive the most votes in each state (or district) receive its assigned electoral votes. In a direct popular election, a candidate could theoretically win without having broad support throughout the country. 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. 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. For example: States already have the power to award their electors to the winner of the national popular vote, although this would be disadvantageous to the state that did so unless it was joined simultaneously by other states that represent a majority of electoral votes. 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. 9. ashburnham school committee; its his baby now political cartoon meaning; softstar primal sawyer 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. Second, some believe itll intensify election problems, such as illegally extended voting hours or irregularly high voter turnout (Richards). . on Advantages and Disadvantages of the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, Follow All U.S. Citizens Should Vote. I will explain that in another blog post. 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 Today, the fact that Nebraska and Maine do not use the winner-take-all system serves as proof that modifying the Electoral College system, as proposed by the National Popular Vote plan is constitutional and does not require a constitutional amendment. 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. National Popular Vote - Pros and Cons : r/NeutralPolitics - reddit F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush were elected with less than a majority of the votes cast. Popular vote better than Electoral College, Stanford scholars say
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