How the National Popular Vote Can Save Democracy

“A big part of it is that the U.S. system, through design and manipulation, essentially allows for minority rule — and one political party has become adept at exploiting that.”
Edward Keenan Washington Bureau Chief, Toronto Star

Five of nine currently sitting Supreme Court justices were appointed by Presidents who lost the popular vote.

How is that possible? The winner-take-all used in 48 states causes 38 states to be reliably Red or Blue while the remaining 12 battleground states determine the winner of the Electoral College vote. In a close race, a candidate in a battleground state may get only 1 more vote than the competitor but take ALL that state’s electoral votes. The competitor may win the popular vote by three million yet still lose the Electoral vote count.

While preserving the Electoral College, the National Popular Vote law will count all 50 states’ total votes and award their EC votes to the winner. Currently, the law has passed in 16 jurisdictions for a total of 195 EC votes. We need 270 EC votes (enough to win the presidential election), for NPV to go into effect.

Here is a treasure trove of thoughtful articles explaining this phenomenon. Unfortunately, none of them mention the National Popular Vote law. We need your help in rectifying that. Please write responses to as many of these as possible.

MSNBC Segment: Lawrence: Minority Rule Is Killing The ‘United’ In The United States
The Intercept: ROE V. WADE IS ABOUT TO BE STRUCK DOWN BY THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE
WaPo: The minoritarian third of the Supreme Court
WaPo Opinion: Minority rule is the real reason Roe v. Wade is dead
LA Times: Column: Who may kill Roe vs. Wade? Mostly justices named by a president who lost the popular vote
The New Republic: Women Wouldn’t Lose Their Right to Choose If We Elected Presidents by Popular Vote
The Star: Abortion debate reveals how American democracy has become a rigged game
Newsday Opinion: A Roe v. Wade reversal would showcase the power of the minority in America

NPV Explained

Veteran journalist Eric Black writes Eric Black Ink for MinnPost. His latest award is from the Society of Professional Journalists, which in May 2017 announced he’d won the national Sigma Delta Chi Award for online column writing. In this post he gives a history lesson about the Electoral College, second place winners going all the way back to 1824 and how the National Popular Vote law provides the elegant cure to a recurring conundrum of electing the president by swing states.

NPV Resolution + Caucus at the League of Women Voters Convention 2022 in Denver CO

LWV members of Florida, North Carolina and Wisconsin have partnered to submit a Resolution to elevate National Popular Vote as an integral segment of the LWV US Program Plan for 2022 to 2024 “Making Democracy Work”.

Stop by our Task Force Caucus on NPV on June 24 at 10 AM MT, ask questions at our information table any time, and learn more about what your delegates are asked to advocate in favor of for the NPV Resolution. We look forward to seeing you there!

Sign up here for the LWV 2022 Convention June 23 – 26 and attend either in-person or virtually.