Why the Electoral College Needs Fixing

The Electoral College has profound effects on the way campaigns are run and elections are won. The Electoral College artificially divides the country into “safe states” and “swing states.” Safe states are states where one of the two major parties has a large advantage and their candidate is likely to win that state’s electoral votes regardless of the candidate running for President. Swing states are more politically divided and could potentially go either way in a presidential election. Swing states end up being the primary battleground for candidates because whichever candidate performs better in swing states is likely to prevail in the election. That’s why candidates spend approximately 90 percent their time campaigning in about a dozen swing states.

The Electoral College also makes it possible for a candidate to win the presidential election while losing the popular vote. This has happened five times in our nation’s history—1824, 1876, 1888, 2000, and 2016—and it is likely to happen again in the near future. Though Americans’ support for the Electoral College has changed over time, for decades more Americans have wanted to get rid of the Electoral College than keep it.

How to fix the Electoral College

There are two ways of effectively replacing the Electoral College with a national by popular vote. The first option is passing a constitutional amendment to achieve that goal.

Constitutional Amendment

Though a constitutional amendment would be the most direct way to get rid of the Electoral College, passing that amendment would be extremely difficult because most swing states will not want to give up their outsized influence in the presidential election. And since 38 states are needed to ratify an amendment, it is unlikely that enough swing states will voluntarily support a proposal to reach that threshold. Fortunately, there is another way to elect our next President by popular vote instead of through the Electoral College.

National Popular Vote Interstate Compact

The Constitution gives states the power to choose their electors in the manner they see fit. Most states currently award all their electors to the candidate that wins the popular vote in their state (although Maine and Nebraska choose theirs through proportional representation). However, because states have significant freedom in choosing their electors, states can award all their electors to the winner of the national popular vote, which is the basis for the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.

Created by John R. Koza, the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is an agreement in which states pledge to award all their electors to the winner of the national popular vote. For example, if presidential candidate Jane Doe wins the national popular vote and New Jersey has joined the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, then New Jersey will award all of its 14 electoral votes to Jane Doe, even if Jane Doe does not win the popular vote in New Jersey. When enough states join together in the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, it would ensure that the candidate who wins the popular vote always wins enough electoral votes to become President.

Today, 270 electoral votes constitute a majority of electoral votes so once states totaling 270 electoral votes join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, the candidate who wins the national popular vote will also win enough electoral votes to become President. The Compact does not take effect until that threshold of 270 electoral votes is reached so there is no danger that individual states would disrupt the Electoral College by joining the Compact until enough states to reach 270 electoral votes have joined.

The good news is that many states are already on board with the plan. To date, sixteen states and the District of Columbia have joined the Compact, for a total of 205 electoral votes. Once additional states with 55 electoral votes join the Compact, it will go into effect and the next President will be the winner of the national popular vote. But we need your help to mount a successful U.S. Popular Vote campaign.

If you support the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact there are two ways you can help us move forward. First, if your state has not yet joined the Compact, contact your state representatives and urge them to do so. Second, support our efforts with a donation so we can continue to advance this cause. Fixing the Electoral College is an important step in making government work again, so please support the campaign and make a difference today!