On November 8, the American people spoke clearly, and chose Hillary Clinton for President. She won the popular vote by 2.9 million votes.
But because Clinton's support was geographically concentrated, Donald Trump won the Electoral College and became President of the United States.
This comes only sixteen years after Al Gore won the popular vote but did not become President of the United States, in a similar affront to democracy.
It is long past time that we stopped using the Electoral College to choose our Presidents, and started using the national popular vote instead. Every vote should count equally. Every state should be a swing state.
Sign the petition: End the Electoral College. Elect Presidents by national popular vote.
There is a realistic path to making an end-run around the Electoral College in time for the 2020 election. This is because we don't need a constitutional amendment to stop using the Electoral College. We only need the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact:
If states and territories totaling at least 270 electoral votes pass laws joining the National Popular Vote Compact, then the next presidential election will be determined by the winner of the national popular vote. We are already up to 165.The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC) is an agreement among several U.S. states and the District of Columbia to award all their respective electoral votes to whichever presidential candidate wins the overall popular vote in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The compact is designed to ensure that the candidate who wins the most popular votes is elected president, and it will come into effect only when it will guarantee that outcome.[2][3] As of 2016, it has been joined by ten states and the District of Columbia; their 165 combined electoral votes amount to 30.7% of the total Electoral College vote, and 61.1% of the 270 votes needed for it to have legal force.
If we can make eliminating the Electoral College a national issue broadly adopted by elected Democrats, and if Democrats can do well at the state level in the 2018 midterm elections--which is realistic in the event of an unpopular President Trump--then in 2019 we can pass laws that would make the 2020 presidential election determined by the popular vote.
(Since you might be wondering, according to the compact, states do not change the way they determine their electoral votes until enough states join that the 270 electoral vote threshold is reached. So, for example, California will only start awarding its electoral votes to the national popular vote winner instead of the state popular vote winner once states equalling 270 electoral votes have decided to do the same.)
So this is something we can actually pull off. It starts by telling all elected Democrats that you have had enough of the Electoral College, and that whenever possible they must pass laws to have their states join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.
Add your name: End the Electoral College and choose our Presidents by national popular vote.
Keep fighting,
Chris Bowers
Executive Campaign Director, Daily Kos
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Daily Kos, PO Box 70036, Oakland, CA, 94612.
