The appeal of NPV is the simplicity of its message. The cost of a presidential election in the United States is already several billion dollars. Should that happen, then the final decision of who gets to serve as President of the United States is taken away from individual voters. It has also happened four times out of the 56 presidential elections. The time to stop its momentum is now. what connection type is known as "always on"? The Electoral College is very undemocratic and riddled with issues. 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. Activating the National Popular Vote compact would reshape our . Also the NPV Compact allows states to withdraw from the compact as late as four months before an election. The National Bonus Plan was proposed by historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. If this happens many people in the red states will not feel that the change is legitimate even if its legal and technically constitutional. 3. 4. . Some states, such as California and Hawaii, both had their bills vetoed by their governors before it was overridden and enacted by state legislators. 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. List of the Cons of Proportional Representation. 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. 1. 3. Thats the way it has been in this country for a long time. It would limit the influence of local issues in the election. Yes. 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. In addition, the bill has been unanimously approved at the committee level in the states of Georgia and Missouri, controlling a combined 27 electoral votes. When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. This has occurred in only four of the 58 presidential . The danger of NPV is that it will undermine the complex and vital underpinnings of American democracy. 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. The country could become less stable and divided if he or she did not have a vast amount of support (Richards). All samples were added by students. Under the electoral college, the majority votes of states assign electoral votes to a candidate, which then creates a majority total required for a victory. That effectively means that votes in the the 75% of the country that are in swing states effectively dont count at all. 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. Although many supporters of the electoral college argue that a two-party political system is more stable, some critics counter that having more than two parties would give Americans more choice. 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. 5. 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. (2020, December 16). Maine and Nebraska are the only two states that are not affected by this approach. 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. It isnt impossible to pass a Constitutional amendment, though history shows that it is not an easy process to complete. Under the plan, Michigan's 15 Electoral . pros and cons." dave leip's atlas of u.s. presidential elections. Thats a bank of about 14 million potential voters that reliably vote as a majority for Democratic candidates. 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. Even if states impose fines on faithless electors for their actions, it is not a guarantee that the behavior will stop. 4. 9. The National Popular Vote bill will take effect when enacted into law by states possessing 270 electoral votes a majority of the current 538 electoral votes. Is this a solution to first past the post or is it merely reinforcing our current two party system? 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. However, many people believe that a direct popular election is more democratic and fair than the Electoral College. 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. 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. But if we set politics aside and focus on what is really best for democracy in our country in the long run I believe that the advantages of using the NPV compact to elect our president outweigh the disadvantages and the best way to elect our president in the 21st century is by direct popular vote using Ranked Choice Voting. But for those people who feel that changing how we elect the president should only be done by constitutional amendment they will feel that using the NPV Compact will undermine the legitimacy of the process even though its perfectly legal and constitutional. There are logistical issues that are managed at the local level in each election. But the biggest problem with changing how we elect our president using the NPV Compact is that its too easy to change it back. Steve Sisolak vetoed it. "The National Popular Vote Plan." 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. 15 states and Washington, D.C. have joined the National Popular Vote compact. Menu burger Close thin Facebook Twitter Google plus Linked in Reddit Email arrow-right-sm arrow-right Loading Home Buying Calculators Currently, candidates focus more on swing and battleground states to help them gain those electoral votes. Each vote would affect each candidate instead of being overlooked due to which state those votes would be coming from. 10 Apr. It makes things easier for extreme parties to gain representation. But sometime in the future the popular vote will change back and lean Republican. 1. Even though we will be able to elect the president by national popular vote using the The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, eventually the rules for how we elect the president should be an official part of the Constitution. During the 2012 elections, 38 states, also known as spectator states, were ignored and forgotten. If the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact becomes law it would be an excellent first step to help get a future amendment to the Constitution to replace the Electoral College/Winner-Take-All system to elect the president with a national popular vote using Ranked Choice Voting. 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. F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush were elected with less than a majority of the votes cast. As a result, the bill will take effect when enacted by states possessing an additional 74 electoral votes. 805 15th Street, NW, Suite 800
cons of the national popular vote plan. Over the long run the countrys popular vote in presidential elections has roughly been equally split between Republican and Democratic.*. Learn more about how the National Popular Vote compact works and the ways it could make our elections better for everyone. National Popular Vote compact pros and cons. 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. The states' approval of the compact is a victory for democracy and the principle of "one person, one vote." Heres how. That means the cost of counting all the votes would be duplicated. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. N.p., n.d. 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. Secondly, it creates a minimalist depiction in the minds of the candidate towards more than 40 states. 1, 2023 at 1:16 PM PST. 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. You can use essay samples to find ideas and inspiration for your paper. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. It knows that a majoritarianism that produces a plurality is not the voice of a majority of the citizenry. 5. Colorado is on the verge of joining a nationwide movement that could eventually change how we choose the next president of the United States. 8. It awards all the bonus votes to the winner of the popular vote. Just another site cons of the national popular vote plan . The Congressional District method would allocate electoral votes based on the winner of each congressional district. 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. Rebekah Richards is a professional writer with work published in the "Atlanta Journal-Constitution," "Brandeis University Law Journal" and online at tolerance.org. Less would get done, which would affect the needs of households at the local level. Although faithless electors have not affected the results or outcome of an election yet, in 2016, there were 7 faithless electors. 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. 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. 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.. 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. Currently, 48 of the 50 states follow the winner-take-all rule. Under the system of proportional representation, any party with a high enough percentage of the vote will receive a seat in the government. 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. In contrast, in a direct popular election, each vote matters equally. Battleground states would disappear in U.S. elections. An electoral college would solve . http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/. Under the current structure of presidential elections in the U.S., the states become a battleground of red states vs. blue states. In theory we could change how we elect our president every four years. There are a number of pros for this method. The one-vote approach does not align with the way the electoral votes operates. 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). The horror of a potential national recount is only one of the dangers direct presidential elections poses.
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