As you probably know, Bush lost the popular vote in 2000 but became President due to the Electoral College. As you probably also know, Trump lost the popular vote in 2016, but became President due to the Electoral College. There is a way to fix the Electoral College so that whoever wins the popular vote becomes President.
The solution is called the National Popular Vote Bill. In a nutshell, the National Popular Vote Bill ensures that every vote counts, every vote is equal, and whoever gets the most votes becomes president.
How does it work? It is a bill that states can pass. Each state that passes the bill pledges to give all of its electoral votes to whoever wins the national popular vote. The bill does not take effect until enough states pass the bill so that collectively they have 270 electoral votes, which is enough votes to elect the President.
This is a very realistic way to fix the electoral college. 17 states plus DC have already passed the bill – collectively they have 209 electoral votes. Only 61 additional electoral votes are needed.
No constitutional amendment is needed. No federal law is needed. The US Constitution gives the states the complete right to decide how to use their electoral votes. How states do so has changed many times. Right now, Nebraska and Maine use a different system than the other 48 states. No constitutional amendment was needed for them to do that.
The next state that might pass the National Popular Vote Bill is Virginia. If you live in Virginia, contact your state legislators and tell them you support the National Popular Vote Bill. Also, contact the local chapter of the League of Women Voters and ask them how you can help pass the National Popular Vote Bill.
Elsewhere, you can go to nationalpopularvote.com/volunteer to get on a list to help the national organization. They will contact you to let you know when phone bank opportunities come up.
You can also go to nationalpopularvote.com/xx where “xx” is the abbreviation for your state and they have an email you can send to your state legislators letting them know you support the National Popular Vote Bill.
If you live in North Carolina, you can go to this site to sign a petition indicating that you support the National Popular Vote Bill. This will be used to show NC legislators that there is public support for the bill.
