There is a well-financed movement to circumvent the Electoral College by having State Legislatures pass the National Popular Vote Compact. To date, Sixteen States and the District of Columbia have passed the National Popular Vote Compact representing 205 electoral votes of the 270 votes needed to elect a President and for the National Popular Vote Compact to take effect.
Every State where National Popular Vote has passed is a Democrat State including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington State and the District of Columbia.
This should alarm those who recognize the importance of the Electoral College which has given us a peaceful transition forty-six times from president to president including Biden. The Electoral College is based on how many Senators and Representatives each State has, giving a slight advantage to small-population states.
The National Popular Vote Compact forces states that have signed onto the Compact to deliver their Electoral College Votes to the National “Popular” Vote winner whether or not that State’s voters voted for that particular Presidential candidate. It forces the chief election officer, usually, the Secretary of State, to ignore the vote of the people in their state in favor of the National Popular Vote winner. There is no single arbiter of which candidate actually won the popular election which could result in endless court cases. Talk about stealing an election!!!
Our Founding Fathers established this nation as a Republic where the rights of all citizens, including the rights of those in the minority, would be protected. That’s one of the important purposes of the Electoral College. It also ensures that one section of the country cannot control who becomes the president and that the president must have nationwide support. It is an ingenious plan which has served America well for 235 years.
One of the real threats to the Electoral College is an Article V Constitutional Convention like the Convention of States. All the Democrat States listed above will certainly participate in any Article V Convention for amending the Constitution. Many other States including my own state of Nevada and Arkansas, Arizona, Maine, Michigan, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Virginia have made some progress towards passing the National Popular Vote making it more likely that it will be considered at a Convention.
Former Chief Justice Warren Burger, the highest authority in the United States to ever speak out on a Constitutional Convention, said, “I have also repeatedly given my opinion that there is no effective way to limit or muzzle the actions of a Constitutional Convention.”
We can fully expect that in an unlimited Article V Convention for Amendments, with so many States supporting the National Popular Vote they would vote to eliminate the Electoral College. This is just one more important reason to oppose the Convention of States which in their Pocket Guide and at their mock Conventions have suggested dozens of subjects that would fall under their language to “impose fiscal restraints on the federal government and to limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government.” Why not eliminate the Electoral College?
We must oppose all attempts to pass an Article V Constitutional Convention including the Convention of States which will jeopardize the Electoral College and our elections.
