I Want My Vote to Count!

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Hey! I want my vote for president to count. You too? I mean I want a system whereby, in our presidential election, every voter who casts a vote for Candidate A actually sees his or her vote go to Candidate A. Likewise, each vote cast for Candidate B by an eligible American voter goes directly to Candidate B. And we add them up, and that’s it: We have a winner, chosen directly by the people. I like that.

Yes, I understand that it can’t be changed overnight. And I understand the electoral college and how it works. (I’ve even written several times about the unfortunate way “electoral” is now so often mispronounced, including a recent article called “Blah, Blah, Blah.”) Regardless of how it’s mispronounced, I recognize three conflicting issues about the electoral college:

  • It was created back in the late eighteenth century for a very good, practical reason – and I imagine it worked well.

  • We don’t need it any longer, as all Americans are able to register to vote, inform themselves, and either get to the polling place or vote by mail. We no longer need substitutes to stand in for uninformed voters stranded out in the wilderness.

  • But it would take an amendment to the US Constitution to get rid of the danged thing, so I’m content to leave it alone – if we can make it work fairly.

I’m not content to let the electoral college redirect my vote from Candidate A to Candidate B, or vice versa, because the institution is at the mercy of majority politics in any particular state. I want a simple solution to ensure my vote for president always counts exactly as I cast it. 

And I’ve found the solution! It’s called “National Popular Vote,” or NPV, and it’s really quite simple. Let me see if I can lay it out in just six clear, simple steps:

  1. NPV does not require an amendment to the US Constitution because it does not do away with the electoral college.

  2. It simply brings the electoral college in line with the national popular vote – the will of the people.

  3. How? Each state willing to agree to NPV commits to awarding all of its electoral votes to the presidential candidate who wins the overall popular vote, nationwide.

  4. To succeed, NPV requires an interstate compact: a minimum number of states to agree that their state electors will commit to the voters’ directive.

  5. Such an agreement would work like this:

    1. 270 electoral votes are required to elect a president.

    2. Once enough states have agreed to this compact so that, collectively, their 270 electoral votes are committed, it works!

  6. At that point, enough states have directed their electors to cast their official votes for the candidate who won the most popular votes nationwide – period, thereby ensuring that the candidate selected by the greatest number of voters will be the candidate selected by the electoral college.

So, is there any hope? You bet there is! Sixteen states and the District of Columbia have already signed the interstate compact (NPVIC). Together they represent 205 electoral votes. Now, the compact will not take effect until we reach the 270-vote threshold, so these 16 states are still running presidential elections the old way – winner take all. Per the compact, “This agreement shall take effect when states cumulatively possessing a majority of the electoral votes have enacted this agreement……”

We need enough additional states to account for another 65 votes; Wisconsin could add 10 of them. What if we got enough states to sign the compact to reach the 270-vote threshold? What would that mean?

  1. Every vote in every state in every presidential election would be equal.

  2. “Battleground” states would no longer exist, encouraging candidates to seek support in all 50 states and D.C., not just in “swing states.”

  3. A candidate who does not win the popular vote could not become president.

  4. Minority populations within a state, including rural voters, would have their votes counted exactly like all other votes.

  5. We’d no longer have a system whereby the votes of the minority party in a “red state” or a “blue state” simply don’t count.

The people will choose the president! It’s as simple as that. And we can do it without the fuss of trying to get rid of that outdated, silly electoral college. It’s called National Popular Vote, and it will go into effect when enough states have signed onto the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. It seems so simple and fair and logical to me. What do you think?

We have nearly four years now to get this done. Shall we work proactively to improve our electoral process and be ready for the next presidential race in 2028? I say we do it!

You can learn more at National Popular Vote.