What is National Popular Vote?
By Bonnie Hough, VOTER Staff
On March 11th, 2022, League members from around the state had the opportunity to learn from LWVSPA member Deb Mazzaferro about the National Popular Vote initiative. Deb is the Co-Chair of Floridians for the National Popular Vote, a statewide advocacy group working to educate citizens about the national popular vote and successfully pass the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact in the Florida legislature.
Adopting the national popular vote changes the way the current electoral college system operates in our country’s presidential elections. Our federal election includes both a popular vote (decided by the total number of individual votes cast by citizens) and an electoral college vote, which ultimately decides the presidency. Each state has a different number of electoral votes, based on the total number of federal Congressional seats it holds at the time of the election. There are 538 total electoral votes across all 50 states and DC.
The Constitution requires an electoral college vote to be a component of our national presidential election, but it does not stipulate specifically how that vote must operate. Currently, during presidential elections, when a candidate wins a state’s popular vote, all of that state’s electoral college votes also go to that candidate. This means that of the 538 electoral votes available, a candidate must win 270 to win the presidency.
This can force campaigns and candidates to become hyper-focused on winning the required 270 electoral votes, rather than focusing on winning the votes of the majority of Americans across the country. This setup has resulted in five elections where the President elected had won the electoral college but not win the popular vote (1824, 1876, 1888, 2000, and 2016). The national presidential election is the only election in our country at the local, state, or federal level that is not set up on the basis of a popular vote.
As Deb explained during the webinar, the current electoral system results in an intense focus on a small number of “swing states” during campaign season. These states receive the vast majority of candidate campaign visits, whereas solidly Democratic or Republican states receive little to no attention during presidential campaigning. In 2016, for example, 71 campaign events were held in Florida, 48 in Ohio, 54 in Pennsylvania, and 17 in Nevada. On the other hand, at least 22 states did not receive a single visit from presidential candidates. You can take a look at these maps at FloridiansforNPV.com
Under the National Popular Vote, whichever candidate for the presidency wins more individual votes (aka the popular vote) would win the election. This change is being moved forward through the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, which is a bill passed at the state legislature level that confirms a state’s intention to assign all of their state’s electoral votes to whichever candidate wins the popular vote across all 50 states and the District of Columbia (rather than whichever candidate wins within their particular state). Because this Bill would not abolish the electoral college, but just change the way the college works, this would not require a Constitutional amendment.
What is the current status of this bill?
To make the National Popular Vote go into effect, 270 electoral college votes must be committed to the NPV Interstate Compact structure. As of today, 16 jurisdictions and 195 electoral college votes have already been committed to the NPV Interstate Compact. This includes 5 small jurisdictions (DC, DE, HI, RI, VT), 8 medium-sized states (CO, CT, MD, MA, NJ, NM, OR, WA), and 3 big states (CA, IL, NY).
The bill will take effect when enacted by states with 75 more electoral votes. The bill has passed at least one chamber in 8 additional states with 74 more electoral votes (AR, AZ, ME, MI, MN, NC, NV, OK). A total of 3,408 state legislators from all 50 states have endorsed it. (Source: Floridians for National Popular Vote)
What is the League’s stance on NPV?
The League of Women Voters of the United States has publicly supported popular vote efforts since 1970. The LWVUS website states: “[We] believe that the direct-popular-vote method for electing the President and Vice President is essential to representative government. Currently, the League has a Task Force at the national level focused on supporting NPV initiatives. You can find out more about the League’s NPV work.”
How can I learn more?
Floridians for the National Popular Vote offers several resources, including:
A detailed explanation of each sentence in the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact Bill.
The results of the FL for NPV 2017 survey of Florida registered voters’ attitudes about the electoral college
NationalPopularVote.com, for details on the Interstate Compact at the national level
Link to direct recording of Lunch and Learn
Floridians for the National Popular Vote also suggests the book Every Vote Equal: A State-Based Plan for Electing the President by National Popular Vote.