Presented by: Kirsten Tautfest

For the Stillwater League of Women Voters

Every Vote Equal:A State-Based Plan for Electing the President

by National Popular Vote

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.

The Current System of Electors is Flawed:

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 state’s 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.

‘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.

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.

Your vote is not weighted equallyElectorsPop. (2000) Pers/ elector Reg. Voters (2004) Voters/ elector

Wyoming 3 493,782 164594.00 265,000  88333.33Washington, DC 3 572,059 190686.33 293,000                                  97666.67Alaska 3 626,932 208977.33 334,000  111333.33Vermont 3 608,827 202942.33 354,000  118000.00Hawaii 4 1,211,537 302884.25 497,000  124250.00Delaware 3 783,600 261200.00 415,000  138333.33New Hampshire 4 1,235,786 308946.50 716,000  179000.00Oklahoma 7 3,450,654 492950.57 1,781,000  254428.57California 55 33,871,648 615848.15 14,193,000  258054.55Texas 35 20,851,820 595766.29 9,681,000  276600.00New York 31 18,976,457 612143.77 8,624,000  278193.55Ohio 20 11,353,140 567657.00 6,003,000  300150.00Florida 27 15,982,378 591939.93 8,219,000  304407.41Nebraska 3 1,711,263 570421.00 918,000  306000.00Illinois 21 12,419,293 591394.90 6,437,000  306523.81Pennsylvania 21 12,281,054 584812.10 6,481,000  308619.05Michigan 17 9,938,444 584614.35 5,364,000  315529.41Wisconsin 10 5,363,675 536367.50 3,225,000  322500.00

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 OH’s outcome. Bush won there by 59,393. Not enough to change the popular vote outcome.

Recent Artificial Crises

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).

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

For More Information

National Popular Vote

www.NationalPopularVote.com

FairVotewww.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.