Whether from National Popular Vote advocates or others, there are plenty of complaints about the Electoral College. Yet three of the most common are also the easiest to answer, at least in part, because each applies even more to Congress. Whether these or other complaints are valid at all is yet another question.
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To hear supporters of National Popular Vote tell it, most Americans probably have no idea who the presidential candidates were in the last election. They may not have even known there was an election going on. And most of the votes cast weren’t even counted.
Of course, none of these things are true. That didn’t...
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Tweet Twice recently, The Heritage Foundation hosted events to discuss the National Popular Vote proposal–a plan that would eliminate the effects of the Electoral College while side-stepping the difficult process of constitutional amendment. I was honored to participate in the first panel, and even more honored that it was hosted by Edwin Meese III,...
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Tweet In the last two days, I’ve debated four National Popular Vote advocates in two cities and spoken about the issue as part of a panel presentation on federalism. Here are a few things I noted from the debates. NPV advocates–in this case, Tom Golisano–continue to make the claim that the election outcomes in...
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Tweet The National Popular Vote interstate compact would wipe away state lines and turn the entire nation into one giant “single-member district” for presidential elections. This, according to computer scientist and NPV inventor John Koza, will make “every voter equal.” That is the title of Koza’s self-published book and the lead slogan employed in...
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Tweet Deep thinking and deliberation are getting in the way of the National Popular Vote campaign in Oregon (HB 3517). This is my conclusion after stopping briefly in Salem yesterday and talking with a few legislators and several legislative staff. It was all true to a pattern that I’ve seen in my cross-country travels....
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Tweet Traveling around the country defending federalism and the Electoral College, I have heard an amazing array of different–sometimes contradictory–claims made by National Popular Vote (NPV) advocates. Some of this is reasonable, since different NPV backers have different complaints about the current system and very different explanations of how NPV would work. Other contradictions...
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Tweet Last week I visited Juneau to talk with state legislators about National Popular Vote. NPV’s anti-Electoral College legislation (SB 39) has moved through two of their Senate committees in as many months. Because NPV says different things to different people, it’s always fascinating to pick up the echoes of their latest sales pitch. This...
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Tweet While the November election was a setback for National Popular Vote, the San Fransisco-based lobbying organization out to manipulate the Electoral College in a way that would eliminate its benefits, they are still at it. This time, the group has hired lobbyists in South Dakota to push Senate Bill 138. The measure would...
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Tweet According to National Popular Vote, it don’t mean a thing if you ain’t got that swing. Voters outside of “swing states,” NPV’s materials claim, are “spectators to the presidential election” and are “effectively disenfranchised.” A closer look reveals that NPV’s claims come from a superficial understanding of political campaigns that does not survive...
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Tweet The Electoral College was one of the least controversial provisions of the original Constitution. The state-by-state way we elect the President of the United States gives each state a number of Electoral Votes equal to the sum of their U.S. Representatives and Senators (and Washington, D.C., gets three). Nearly all states award all...
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Tweet Next week, the Cato Institute will host two leading legal scholars in a debate about the merits of the Electoral College. Tara Ross, author of Enlightened Democracy: The Case for the Electoral College (it’s in our bookstore), will face off against Maryland State Senator Jamie Raskin, who is also a professor of constitutional...
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