Readers of this blog will remember that the National Popular Vote campaign is striving to effectively eliminate the Electoral College by asking states to allocate their electors to the winner of the national popular vote, rather than the winner of state popular votes. Now, it looks like NPV’s long road to changing the Electoral...
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Pennsylvania Republicans want to change the state’s method of awarding presidential electors: Instead of a winner-take-all system, they propose to award electors based on congressional district. http://bit.ly/qp1z6S One of the great strengths of the current system is the great discretion given to state legislatures in picking a manner of elector allocation. If Pennsylvania legislators...
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The NPV (a state-by-state campaign to abolish the Electoral College) has amassed 77 electoral votes by state legislatures passing bills committing their votes to the winner of the national popular vote. For more back story, click here. What’s surprising is the amount of time, energy and money they’ve spent in one tiny state: Rhode Island. NPV...
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Vermont is one gubernatorial signature away from joining an effort to ditch the Electoral College. The Vermont legislature gave final approval to the National Popular Vote plan last week. (More details regarding the mechanics of the legislation can be found here.) As a legislator, Governor Shumlin once sponsored the bill, so he is expected...
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On Friday, a Connecticut legislative committee held a hearing on the NPV proposal. The hearing was lengthy, and the committee heard testimony from close to a dozen people. I was able to make it to Hartford for the day and was glad for the opportunity to talk to the committee about the dangers of...
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Late last week, the Massachusetts state senate voted to approve the National Popular Vote bill. The house had already approved the measure in June. These votes mean that Massachusetts is almost certain to become the sixth state to approve NPV. But, as they say, it ain’t over ‘til the fat lady sings. There is...
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Note: I’ve stuck this post from last year to the top since it provides a good overview of what Save Our States is all about. -TE 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...
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The Delaware Senate spent portions of this week considering HB 198, which would commit the state to NPV’s anti-Electoral College scheme. The House already approved the legislation last year, so senate approval would send the bill to the Governor’s desk. The Senate has three legislative days left in which it could still approve the...
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Tonight Save Our States is hosting a Citizens’ Briefing to explain the importance of the Electoral College and the threat of the National Popular Vote plan. A lot of people don’t like the Electoral College. Even more people don’t understand it. There are plenty of arguments for the institution’s irreplaceable contribution to American liberty...
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Last week, the Massachusetts House of Representatives passed National Popular Vote (NPV) legislation, part of the attempt to unravel the Electoral College without amending the Constitution. Yesterday, the New York State Senate passed the same bill. In each state, the measure moves to the other legislative chamber for consideration. So far this year NPV...
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Maine’s National Popular Vote bill (LD 56) was brought to the House floor and solidly defeated on Tuesday, February 2, 2010. The vote was 95 against and only 50 for the bill. The floor action came just two weeks after the Save Our States visit to Augusta. Much of the credit for this victory...
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Few states stand to lose more under National Popular Vote than Vermont. As both a low population and low population density state, Vermont is the classic “small” state. The Electoral College gives Vermont a political boost. The National Popular Vote plan, on the other hand, would pull the political rug out from under Vermont....
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