Dems argue for popular vote

Passing Interstate Compact law would effectively bypass Electoral College

HARTFORD — Democratic Senate and House lawmakers said they feel they may have enough support to pass legislation joining the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.

In a news conference Tuesday, top Democratic legislators said there is enough momentum for Connecticut to join 10 other states and the District of Columbia in changing the way votes are counted in the presidential election.

“I fully reject the notion that the citizens of America in 2018 cannot be trusted to directly elect their president,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney, D-New Haven. “The Electoral College is clearly an anachronism.”

If Connecticut joined the interstate agreement, it would promise to give all seven of its Electoral College votes to the winner of the popular vote in presidential elections — if enough other states sign on.

State Sen. Michael McLachlan, R-Danbury, chairman of the Goverment Administration and Elections Committee, argued the compact would weaken voters’ voices because the state’s Electoral College votes would go to the winner of the popular vote regardless of whether Connecticut voters support the candidate.

“That doesn’t sound like the ‘one voice, one vote’ proposal many people are being led to believe it is,” he said. “If we do away with the Electoral College, Connecticut voters may as well avoid going to the polls on Election Day, because someone else will be making the decision for them.”

State Rep. Michael Winkler, D-Vernon, said the current system can make legislators focus their campaigning on battleground states instead of campaigning in all parts of the country.

The states already signed onto the Compact have promised their collective 165 electoral votes to the winner of the popular vote. For the Compact to take effect, states with a combined total of 270 electoral votes — a majority of the Electoral College — must sign it.

“By joining the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, we can move our nation one step closer to truly honoring the will of voters,” said Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, DNorwalk.

Legislators have considered the Compact in the past but the movement has never had enough votes to pass. State Rep. Matt Lesser, D-Middletown, who sponsored the bill in the past, said he has “never been more optimistic” about passing the compact than this year.

“Something is different now,” he said.

“The enthusiasm for the National Popular Vote Compact is palpable and extends far beyond polling that shows three out of four Connecticut voters support the measure,” said Steven Winter, state coordinator at National Popular Vote CT.

“Thousands have signed petitions and postcards, rallied and lobbied and participated in phonebanking and canvasses,” he said. “We’re thrilled and grateful that our state’s leaders have listened and made this an issue.”