The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Now’s time for a national popular vote
As the general election for President nears, one cannot miss the unconventional nature of this election cycle. No matter which candidate you support, four out of five voters are rendered politically irrelevant due to the current system of state-based, winnertake-all laws, which results in an over-concentration of attention and resources in 11 battleground states; to the detriment of the other 39 states. If you want your vote to matter, statelevel reform of the Electoral College system is necessary.
This means redoubling our efforts to enact the National Popular Vote legislation.
In a nutshell, the current process awards all of a state’s electoral votes to the candidate who wins a majority of votes cast in that state, regardless of who won the national vote. This calculation leads to a system in which candidates — and presidents, once elected — clearly favor “battleground” states, with attention, campaign resources, and ultimately, federal dollars.
For example, during the 2012 cycle there were only 12 states that received post-convention visits from the President; leaving 38 states, their voters, and their policy issues largely ignored. According to Politico, this year there are only 11 “toss up” states — states that will see, and reap the benefit of the vast majority of candidate visits, campaign spending, and infrastructure build-out.
The shortcomings of the way in which the Electoral College system is being used, stems not from the provisions in our Constitution that established the mechanism, but rather from the way the states decide how to award those votes. Almost every state long ago decided to give its total number of electoral college votes (16 in Georgia) to the candidate who wins a bare majority of the votes in that state – ignoring the overall national vote. The practical effort of awarding electoral votes in this way, is that presidential candidates have little reason to visit, or, more importantly, pay attention to issues of concern to states where the statewide outcome is a foregone conclusion. Candidates see little need to campaign in Georgia or South Carolina, for example, because these states are reliable votes for one party or the other and thus do not “rate” attention from the candidates or their campaigns.
Flaws in the Electoral College system also impact states long after the votes are cast. Over time, and on average, so-called “battleground states” receive seven percent more federal grants than mere “spectator” states. These “Super States” also benefit in other ways reflecting their electoral college importance — twice as many presidential disaster declarations, additional Superfund enforcement exemptions, increased “No Child Left Behind” exemptions; and the list goes on. Thus, Richmond or Roanoke, Va., are more likely to receive federal disaster assistance than Atlanta, if hit with flooding or tornadoes, reflecting the importance of Virginia’s status as a battleground state. Under our current system, Electoral College politics largely drives public policy and federal money. It need not be so. The National Popular Vote Project provides a state-based pathway that will, as a practical matter, make every voter in every state politically relevant in every presidential election. When National Popular Vote takes effect, it will guarantee the presidency to the candidate who gets the most popular votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Importantly – and contrary to much of the mischaracterization by its critics, the National Popular Vote bill does not change our Constitution; it preserves the Electoral College and each state’s control of their elections. Article II, Section 1 of our Constitution, which gives the states exclusive control over awarding their electoral votes, remains as is. The National Popular vote is a constitutional avenue to Electoral College reform.
The National Popular Vote already has been enacted by 10 states and the District of Columbia, totaling 165 electoral votes—61 percent of the 270 electoral votes necessary to activate it.
We have an historic opportunity to reform the Electoral College system. We can ensure that every vote, in every state matters. The National Popular Vote is a commonsense, constitutional pathway to achieve this goal.