How to begin dismantling the electoral college

Had Hillary Clinton won the electoral vote but lost the popular vote, we would have never heard the end of it.  It’s time go get rid of this antiquated way of choosing our president. John Koza has one idea.

The reason why five of our nation’s 45 incoming presidents have entered office after losing the national popular vote (while winning the Electoral-College vote) is that most states have winner-take-all laws that award all the state’s electoral votes to the candidate receiving the most popular votes in that state.

Given that there have now been eight consecutive presidential elections with an average national-popular-vote margin of less than 5 percent, it is safe to predict that the nation will continue to experience elections ending in this unhealthy way.

These state winner-take-all laws are also the reason why the 2016 presidential candidates concentrated 94 percent of their campaign events in just 12 closely divided “battleground” states, while giving little or no attention to states with 70 percent of the nation’s population…

Fortunately, the Founding Fathers provided us with a way to change the current method of electing the president so that the candidate receiving the most popular vote in all 50 states always wins the White House.

This makes every vote, in every state, will be politically relevant in every presidential election.

The U.S. Constitution empowers each state to choose the method of awarding its electoral votes (“Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors….”).

…The National Popular Vote interstate compact provides a way to guarantee the presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The compact will go into effect after being enacted by states possessing a majority of the electoral votes — that is, enough to elect a president (270 of 538).

Under the compact, when the Electoral College meets in mid-December, the candidate who received the most popular votes in all 50 states (and the District of Columbia) would receive all the electoral votes from all the enacting states (and thereby become president).

So far, 11 states possessing 165 electoral votes have enacted the National Popular Vote bill into law. Enactment by states possessing an additional 105 electoral votes is necessary to bring the compact into effect. The bill has made significant progress in this direction by already passing one legislative chamber in 12 additional states with 96 electoral votes.

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.