The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact would guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The bill ensures that every vote, in every state, will matter in every presidential election. The bill is a constitutionally conservative, state-based approach that preserves the Electoral College, state control of elections, and the power of the states to control how the President is elected.
The National Popular Vote bill has been enacted by 18 jurisdictions possessing 209 electoral votes, including 6 small jurisdictions (DC, DE, HI, RI, VT, ME), 9 medium-sized states (CO, CT, MD, MA, NJ, NM, OR, WA, MN), and 3 big states (CA, IL, NY). The bill will take effect when enacted by states with 61 more electoral votes. The bill has passed at least one chamber in 7 additional states with 70 more electoral votes (AR, AZ, MI, MN, NC, NV, OK). A total of 3,408 state legislators from all 50 states have endorsed it.
The shortcomings of the current system of electing the President stem from “winner-take-all” laws that have been enacted by state legislatures in 48 states. These laws award all of a state’s electoral votes to the candidate receiving the most popular votes in each state.
Because of these state winner-take-all statutes, presidential candidates have no reason to pay attention to the issues of concern to voters in states where the statewide outcome is a foregone conclusion. In 2020, as shown on the map, all of the 212 general-election campaign events were in just 17 states, and three-eights were held in Pennsylvania and Florida. Thirty-three states and DC were completely ignored. FairVote created the database and this map of campaign activity. Click here to see details of the candidates’ visits to various states. The map shows, by state, the number of campaign events starting on August 28, 2020 (the day after the end of the Republican National Convention) and ending on Tuesday November 3, 2020 (Election Day).
Here’s a map of US with state sizes based on the number of campaign events in 2012. This is how the candidates view the relevant voters (and their issues). Notice that 38 states are missing altogether:
Similarly, in 2016, almost all campaign events (94%) were in the 12 states where Trump’s support was between 43% and 51%. Two-thirds of the events (273 of 399) were in just 6 states (OH, FL, VA, NC, PA, MI).
This is how the US map looks with state sizes based on the number of campaign events in 2016 (missing states received no campaign events):
State winner-take-all statutes adversely affect governance. “Battleground” states receive 7% more federal grants than “spectator” states, twice as many presidential disaster declarations, more Superfund enforcement exemptions, and more No Child Left Behind law exemptions.
Also, because of state winner-take-all statutes, five of our 45 Presidents have come into office without having won the most popular votes nationwide. The 2000 and 2016 elections are the most recent examples of elections in which a second-place candidate won the White House. Near-misses are also common under the current state-by-state winner-take-all method of awarding electoral votes. A shift of 59,393 votes in Ohio in 2004 would have elected John Kerry despite President Bush’s nationwide lead of over 3,000,000 votes.
The U.S. Constitution (Article II, Section 1) gives the states exclusive control over awarding their electoral votes: “Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors….” The winner-take-all method of awarding electoral votes is state law. It is not in the U.S. Constitution. The winner-take-all rule was used by only three states in 1789, and all three repealed it by 1800. It was not until the 11th presidential election (1828) that even half the states used winner-take-all laws.
The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact will go into effect when enacted by states possessing a majority of electoral votes—that is, enough to elect a President (270 of 538). This would ensure that every voter, in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, has an equal say in the outcome of presidential elections.
This change in how we use our current election system follows the Constitution, while providing the most effective way to ensure every vote for our most important elected official counts equally.
Click here for a detailed explanation of each sentence in the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact Bill. You can also see the results of our 2017 survey of Florida registered voters’ attitudes about the electoral college.
Additional information is available in the book Every Vote Equal: A State-Based Plan for Electing the President by National Popular Vote and at www.NationalPopularVote.com.