On April 15, the Washington State House passed SB 5599, the National Popular Vote Plan bill. The bill had passed the Senate in March. It now goes to the Governor, who is likely to sign it. If she does, Washington will be the fifth state to have enacted the pact, which does not go into effect until states containing a majority of electoral votes have passed it.
Ballot Access News
Edited By Richard Winger
The was a very important step for the National Popular Vote plan. It now has passed 26 of our nation’s 99 legislative chambers, representing 16 states.
I know some users of this site are wary of it, but one-person, one-vote elections are the foundation of a democracy. There are excellent resources at:
http://www.nationalpopularvote.com
http://www.fairvote.org/president
Not surprising to crown the evil and undemocratic top two system with this f a s c i s t – s o c i a l i s t takeover attempt on the nation.
The power elite in Washington State must be trying to lock themselves into total control forever.
I think we are going to see the break-up of this country in our lifetimes.
It’s incredible that a state’s legislature and governor would pass a proposal which could lead to that state’s electoral votes going to a presidential candidate who loses the state’s popular vote.
#1: While I’m strongly opposed to the “top two” for state and congressional elections, it should be noted that nearly 60% of Washington’s voters in 2004 approved it.
Hopefully Washington will make its presidential elections subject to the Top 2 provisions as well. That would let them get rid of one of the remaining entanglements between the State and the political parties.
Sorry – the NPV compact scheme has NOT been approved in the gerrymander Congress.
Sorry – the scheme (even if approved in the gerrymander Congress) is a blatant violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amdt, Sec. 1 — allowing voters OUTSIDE of a State to determine election results INSIDE a State.
Proper remedy — constitutional amendment
Uniform definition of Elector in ALL of the U.S.A.
NONPARTISAN nomination and election of all elected executive officers and all judges using Approval Voting — vote for 1 or more, highest win.
P.R. for all legislative bodies.
Otherwise get ready for Civil W-A-R II — the People versus the gerrymander gangs of monarchs / oligarchs — which may make the civil wars in 1775-1783 and 1861-1865 look like pre-school stuff in a back yard sandbox.
Ah, here comes the tanks-in-the-streets crowd.
Sure, NPV is a facist-socialist takeover attempt. That makes lots of sense.
In any other country where there is a direct popular vote for the executive, that’s democracy, not a facist-socialist government. Additionally, within individual states, the direct popular vote for governor are clearly democratic, and not facist/socialist.
But, hold up, a direct popular vote for US president. Facism! Socialism!! Clearly not democracy! Civil war imminent!
Get real psychos.
NPV, once enacted, will be challenged in the US Supreme Court by states not allied to it. It is an alliance, which is strictly forbidden of the States in the Constitution. What do you think will happen if it is declared unconstitutional? Will those who have enacted it just let it go or will they fight? Whether you like it or not, this country is still a Republic. Unless you amend the Constitution, NPV will not prevail and havoc may ensue at the presidential election following its enactment. A Constitutional mess will have been created by NPV supporters.
Great news, good job Washington state.
There are some people on this blog that clearly do not understand the meaning of the world “republic”. Modern elected governments that are not constitutional monarchies are ALL republics. The USA is the only one with a dysfunctional “Electoral College.” The EC will be abolished eventually, regardless of the outcome of the NPV movement. You might as well get used to it.
#9: “The [Electoral College] will be abolished eventually, regardless of the outcome of the NPV movement.”
Would you like to make a little wager on that? There have already been 700-plus attempts to change or abolish the Electoral College.
Direct election of the president would change the very nature of campaigns, as candidates would spend almost all of their time in the large population centers and on the airwaves. A president elected by big-city votes would naturally be less concerned with small-town and rural issues.
Imagine the uncertainty of a nationwide vote recount.
This is all academic, though, as the Electoral College is here to stay.
Lemur,
You are so right. Democracy is not Fascism. And
whatever other, perhaps legitimate, objections
someone might have to NPV, NPV IS more democratic
than the present system of presidential election.
“Democracy… while it lasts is more bloody than either aristocracy or monarchy. Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There is never a democracy that did not commit suicide.” — John Adams
“A democracy is a volcano which conceals the fiery materials of its own destruction. These will produce an eruption and carry desolation in their way.” — Fisher Ames, known as one of America’s “forgotten” Founding Fathers
“Democracy is the most vile form of government… democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention: have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property: and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.” — James Madison, who wrote the Constitution.
“Imagine the uncertainty of a nationwide vote recount.”
Strangely enough, all the other republic with directly elected presidents can handle that. Do you mean to suggest that you Americans are too stupid for direct election?
As for the distinction between democracy and republic — that’s just a problem with terminology that you Americans haven’t yet understood. The USA are of course a democracy and a republic. Those two terms operate on different axes.
If such an idea is enacted, you are going to start seeing smaller states secede from the Union.
#10 Once upon a time pro-divine right of kings folks thought divine right of kings was going to be around forever. See the 1688-1689 Glorious Revolution in England.
Once upon a time pro-slavery folks thought slavery was going to be around forever. See the Union Army and Navy at work in 1861-1865.
How many nations manage to survive with the chief executive officer of the nation elected by the Electors in such nations ???
#12 How many EVIL rotted minority rule monarchies and oligarchies have been destroyed in the last 6,000 plus years – due to revolutions and international wars ???
Hmmm. What happened to the Hitler, Mussolini and Hirohito monarchies during World War II ??? See the United Nations at work in 1941-1945.
In other words – how 100 percent brain dead ignorant are some of the political history MORONS on this list ???
Democracy NOW to end the EVIL rule of the EVIL monarchs and oligarchs on Mother Earth.
The U. S. is a representative democracy, although we’ve adopted some processes that are direct democracy.
Direct (or pure) democracy is defined as (1) two wolves and a sheep deciding what’s for dinner, or (2) the right of the 51% to pee in the popcorn of the 49%.
#13: You must be from the socialist utopia of Canada. Most of the nations in which the people are self-governing have parliamentary systems, in which the chief executive is not directly elected. Canada’s current prime minister’s Conservative Party does not even have a majority in Parliament. The same is true of Israel’s new prime minister’s party.
Opponents of NPV – help me out here. I’m a Republican in the state of Rhode Island, which gives its electoral college votes to a Republican candidate once every Ronald Reagan or so. Tell me how I’m participating in democracy when I go pee my vote down a rat hole every four years?
And tell me how this plan is “unconstitutional” when the Constitution says the state legislatures decide how their states’ electoral college votes should be allotted? There’s nothing in the Constitution about winner-take-all allotment, either, but we do it…only because that’s what the state legislatures have decided.
Fact is, the Founding Fathers went with the EC because some didn’t trust the great unwashed to make the decision – they preferred keeping it to themselves. Others feared voters would vote only for local favorite sons because they would know little of candidates from other states. And still others were concerned that votes couldn’t be gathered on a timely basis in a time when news travelled no faster than a horse.
Read James Madison’s notes to the Constitutional COnvention. Get your U.S. history straight.
Meanwhile, can I please be allowed to have my vote count every four years, and not just when the incumbent is a grossly incompetent Dem?
oh, by the way…#14 –
My little state gets no special benefit because we have 3 EC votes. Trust me on that. We got lots of military money becuase Sen. Chaffee (daddy, not sonny), a Republican, had seniority and the power that comes with it in the Senate. The only time a presidential campaign comes to our state is for a private fund raising party, and even then it’s usually a campaign underling and not the candidate who comes. And even then it’s just to rake in the dough…not to attend to our needs here in Rhode Island. I’m sure it’s the same in Montana, North Dakota, Idaho, Utah, Kansas, Mississippi, Alabama.
Please…be serious.
These things come along when one party wants to stay in power. So, I suspect that there will be much clamour in Washington (usually among the more “liberal” states)to repeal this act when a conservative candidate wins the national popular vote . . . to sound something like “Why should Washington’s electors be forced to vote for a conservative when the majority of Washington residents voted for the liberal candidate?”
One more point– this is another example of the foolish popular notion that states should keep relinquishing whatever remaining 10th Amendment sovereignty they have to the federal government.