Virginia signs national popular vote bill into law, joining interstate compact with 17 other states and District of Columbia
A national majority vote for president is one step closer to reality after the Virginia governor, Abigail Spanberger, signed the national popular vote bill into law, joining an interstate compact with 17 other states and the District of Columbia.
Under the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, states would assign their presidential electors to the winner of the popular vote, regardless of the results within the state. The compact takes effect when states representing a majority of electoral votes – 270 of 538 – pass the legislation and thus would determine the winner of the presidential contest. With Virginia, the compact now has 222 electors.
Every state that has so far enacted the compact has Democratic electoral majorities, including California, New York and Illinois. But legislation has been introduced in enough states to reach the 270-elector threshold, including swing states like Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Am I reading this correctly, 17 States have already banded together to end first-past-the-post voting for POTUS?
Nah. This will solve electoral college in maybe 50 years.
We’ll fix first past the post in maybe 250 years.
It does not end first past the post voting. If it went into effect it would essentially mean that the popular vote would determine the outcome of the presidential election, by forcing the electoral college results to match. The popular vote would still be first past the post.
This only affects Maine and Nebraska who split electoral college votes though yes? It ensures the popular vote takes all, but that already happens almost everywhere?
No, these states agree to commit their electors to the winner of the national popular vote. This would make it impossible for one candidate to win the election having lost the national popular vote.