For the Stillwater League of Women Voters

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Every Vote EqualA State-Based Plan for Electing
the President by National Popular Vote

• Presented by Kirsten Tautfest
• For the Stillwater League of Women Voters

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The Current System of Electors is Flawed

• Most states are winner take all the electors for
  that state.
• More than 2/3 of the states are effectively
  disenfranchised and receive little attention
  from the presidential candidates.
• Not every vote is equal. A single vote is
  weighted differently based on what state the vote
  is placed in.
• Artificial crises are created.

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States that are NOT winner take all

• Maine (since 1972)
• Nebraska (since 1992)
• Each of these states award one electoral vote to
  the candidate who carries each congressional
  district and two electoral votes to the
  presidential candidate carrying the states
  popular vote. These last two electoral votes
  correspond to the electors for the two Senate
  seats.
• In the most recent elections, both states have
  not seen a split as all the congressional
  district winners have also matched the overall
  statewide popular vote.

4
Disenfranchisement based on campaign strategies

• Each election cycle, a few battleground states
  are chosen based on both midterm elections and
  current polls.
• The two major party candidates focus the majority
  of their resources on these battleground states.
• The other states voters are less likely to show
  up to the polls on election day because they feel
  like their state has already decided who the
  electors are going to be.
• We here in Oklahoma feel this every cycle because
  it is assumed that our electors will go
  Republican.

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Not every vote is weighted equally

• Each state gets allotted electors based on the
  number of Congressional seats plus two for each
  Senate seat.
• This means that the number of electors for a
  state can range from a minimum of 3 (VT, ND, WY,
  AK, DE, DC, MT, SD) to the current max of 55
  (CA). OK has 7.
• This is adjusted every 10 years based on the US
  Census.
• The 2000 electoral college distribution was based
  on the 1990 census.

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Your vote is not weighted equally
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Recent Artificial Crises

• 2000 Bush v Gore.
• Gore won the nationwide popular vote by 537,179.
• Bush won Florida by 527 popular votes.
• Bush received all of FL delegates. FL is a winner
  take all state. So Bush held 271 electoral votes,
  Gore had 269.
• 2004 Bush v Kerry.
• Bush won the nationwide popular vote by 3,319,608
  votes.
• But we had to wait on OHs outcome. Bush won
  there by 59,393. Not enough to change the popular
  vote outcome.

If we had the nationwide popular vote instead of
electors, or if a majority of the states with
enough electoral votes to equal a minimum of 270
electoral votes were in a compact to assign their
electors to the nationwide popular vote winner,
we would have had President Gore (and a totally
different race in 2004).
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Proposed compact between the States to assign
electors to the nationwide popular vote winner

• Compacts are allowed by the US Constitution, so
  long as they do not interfere with Federal law.
• Examples are for water usage, bridge maintenance,
  interstate lotteries
• Article II of the US Constitution allows each
  state to decide how it will chose its
  presidential electors.
• This compact would not do away with the electoral
  system. It would ensure that every vote would be
  equal.
• It may also provide a jumping off point to get
  the Constitution amended to abolish the electoral
  system, by proving to the powers that be that
  this is what the people want.
• If the electoral system is abolished, the compact
  would dissolve.

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Other points

• Voter turnout is higher in battleground states.
• The number of these battleground states has
  shrunk over the past several election cycles.
• Though this year it may have increased.
• The presidential election is the only election
  that does not allow the one person one vote
  principal we adhere to so dearly.
• 72 of voters nationwide approve of a nationwide
  popular vote for electing our president.

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States already approving the compact to date

• MD 10
• NJ 15
• IL 21
• HI 4
• This is 1/6th of the total to activate the
  compact. The compact will not go into effect
  until enough states to meet the 270 electoral
  votes have joined the compact.

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The National Popular Vote bill has now passed
legislative chambers (not law yet)

• AR House (in 2007)
• 6 electors
• CA Senate (in both 2006 and 2007) CA Assembly
  (in 2006 and 2008)
• Vetoed by governor (9/08)
• 55 electors
• CO Senate (in both 2006 and 2007)
• 9 electors
• ME Senate (in 2008)
• 4 electors
• MA House (in 2008)
• 12 electors
• NC Senate (in 2007)
• 15 electors
• RI House (in 2008) Senate (in 2008)
• Governor vetoed.
• 4 electors
• VT House (in 2008) VT Senate (in 2008)
• 3 electors
• Pocket Vetoed (5/13/08)

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Should the League of Women Voters support this
effort?

• Will aid in our efforts to make every vote equal.
• Does not call for a US Constitutional amendment.
• Does this effort fit our mission as an
  organization?
• Policy position (last revised 1982) The League
  of Women Voters of the United States believes
  that the direct-popular-vote method for electing
  the President and Vice-President is essential to
  representative government. The League of Women
  Voters believes, therefore, that the Electoral
  College should be abolished. The League also
  supports uniform voting qualifications and
  procedures for presidential elections.
• The League is split on whether or not to support
  this since it backdoors the effort.

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For More Information

• National Popular Vote
• www.NationalPopularVote.com
• FairVote www.FairVote.org
• You may chose to support this effort on your own.
  Write your State representatives, senator and
  governor on the matter. Write your local
  newspapers.