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National Popular Vote

 

What’s New

On Oct. 9, 2007, the Joint Committee on Election Laws released the National Popular Vote bill with a favorable recommendation. The legislation (H. 678, H. 710, S. 445, and Senate 452) was filed by Rep. Charley Murphy, Rep. Martin Walsh, Rep. Lewis Evangelidis, Sen. Joan Menard, and Sen. Robert Creedon along with 25 other cosponsors

Overview

Most of us are taught in our civics classes that every vote counts. But upon closer look, the election of the President of the United States does not work that way. The President is elected when each state’s electoral college votes are tallied. The electoral college was devised in the Constitutional Convention of 1787 as a compromise between those who proposed a direct popular election of the President and those who wanted  to make the office of the President subject to election by Congress. According to the Oxford University Press dictionary, “…as originally conceived, members of the Electoral College were expected to be prominent state worthies impervious to transient public moods.” 

Some principles haven’t changed since 1787. But there are many important changes in the way we practice democracy, that while once controversial now enjoy universal approval. Giving women the right to vote and abolishing the Poll Tax are just two examples of changes in the practice of our franchise that, while ‘new’ ideas at some point, are now considered fundamental to our system. The National Popular Vote bill would establish aninterstate compact—or agreement—between states that their electors would vote for whichever candidate wins the nationwide popular vote. 

Under the National Popular Vote plan, the compact would take effect only when similar bills have been enacted by states which, collectively, have a majority of the electoral votes—i.e. 270 of the 538 electoral votes.

In the 21st century, it’s time to update a system that was conceived to give the power of decision-making in the all important presidential election  to “prominent state worthies” and recognize that each and every voter in a national election is equal. The president should be elected as a direct result of the popular vote with no intervening process or protocol, and by passing this simple but powerful and timely bill, Massachusetts would help put the country on the path to a healthier democracy.

MASSPIRG Executive Director Janet Domenitz and Pam Wilmont Executvie Director of Common Cause Massachusetts testifying in support of the National Popular Vote bill.

 

News

A fix for the Electoral College -The Boston Globe 2/18/2008

 

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