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 was the top lobby in the state this year, looking to spend almost a quarter of a million. The whole Senate backed the bill, which made things look pretty rosy for Dr. John Koza, head of NPV.

For example, consider Illinois (which already passed NPV). Even with some hefty rural resistance they pushed it through. (See below)

So wait, you’re saying NPV was still shot down? How is that possible?

Oh yeah, this is becoming an annual ritual in the nation’s smallest state. The campaign has failed not once, not twice, but three  times. We’ve done a little background research into what have been the three “rounds” of lobbying for the three bills, who’s been lobbying them and how much has been spent.

Obviously there is a story to be told by the data. Certainly the NPV campaign can’t be simply unlucky? Perhaps Rhode Islanders aren’t too keen on the thought of west-coast out-of-towners bringing in their money and legislation to push through the legislature. Maybe legislators saw how partisan the NPV really is?

Round One, 2007

Beneficiary: Arianne Lynch, Clarendon Group
Result: Bill didn’t pass committee.

Round Two, 2008

Result: Bill passes both houses, vetoed by governor.

Beneficiary: Will Farrell, Brown Rudnick Berlack Israels

Beneficiary: Arianne Lynch, Clarendon Group

 Round Three, 2011

Result: 2011 Feb 3rd to Present, S164 Passes Senate, Heads to House.

Beneficiary: Wallace Gernt, Jr.

Beneficiary: Christopher Reilly

Beneficiary: Ryan O’Donnell

The balance of power between state and national governments was one of the most contentious issues for the American Founders.

The states were important historically, but also as a way to keep government close to the people and to divide government power into as many hands as practical in order to preserve liberty.

At the Constitutional Convention small states wanted every state to have an equal voice in the national government. Large states desired just the opposite—representation based on population would give them more power.

It was a compromise that created the U.S. Congress, where states are represented equally in the Senate but according to population in the House. That compromise not only broke the deadlock that threatened to derail the Constitution—it became the foundation for the unique American system of Federalism.

The national government was set up to provide national defense, manage foreign trade, and referee disputes between the states—in short, to provide the states with safety and commerce similar to the way the British Empire did for the 13 original colonies. The states were left to manage their internal affairs and to compete with one another; thus the states are sometimes referred to as our “fifty laboratories of democracy.”

Federalism fosters diversity by allowing groups of people in different states to manage their affairs differently, to innovate or remain the same, to address local needs. And by keeping government local, dividing it up, and making it compete, Federalism protects freedom.

The American system of states is not just unique—it has been uniquely successful. Federalism is an American invention worth preserving.

Great news. The Rhode Island House last week declined to adopt the NPV legislation, despite approving it last year.  (Last year, both House and Senate approved the measure, but the Governor vetoed the bill.)   Last week’s House vote was 28 for and 45 against.

Providence Journal story on NPV in Rhode Island