As of Thursday, two days after election day, Joe Biden had won the popular vote as he had over four million more votes than Donald Trump. However, he could still lose the election if he does not get 270 or more electoral votes.
“One man one vote” is not an accurate statement of voting in America. Americans would prefer all votes to be equal, but they do not have that situation because of the Electoral College’s antiquated mechanism. Americans would choose to elect the president by direct popular vote by an overwhelming majority, just like other elected offices.
On a gut level, they understand the fundamental fairness of awarding the nation’s highest office on the same basis as every other elected office — to the person who gets the most votes.
In a fair system, where all votes are equal, one party, now the Democratic Party, would not have to win a vast plurality of the vote to win. But the Electoral College currently dictates that situation.
The Electoral College allocates electors based on each state’s representation in Congress, tipping the scales in favor of smaller states. For example, a Wyoming resident’s vote counts 3.6 times as much as a California resident’s vote. Presidential ballots in 44 states and D.C. are worth more than a Virginian’s. At the extreme, votes in Vermont and Wyoming are worth more than three times votes in Virginia. It is as if when a Virginian casts a presidential ballot, a voter in Vermont or Wyoming gets to cast three ballots.
Slowly moving around the country is a workaround—the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC).
NPVIC is an agreement among the states that guarantees the U.S. presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes across 50 states and D.C. It replaces state winner-take-all laws with new state laws that pledge their electoral votes to the candidate who wins the popular vote in all 50 states and D.C. The bill only goes into effect when states with 270 electoral votes have been committed to the Compact.
Polls show more than 70 percent of Americans support a nationwide vote for president, and NPVIC has been endorsed by both Republicans and Democrats as support is bipartisan. NPVIC is a non-profit organization, and several of the leaders are Republicans. Eight former national chairs of the conservative ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) have endorsed the plan. Even conservative former Republican Congressmen Newt Gingrich and Bob Barr have endorsed NPVIC.
As of October 2020, fifteen states and the District of Columbia have passed legislation to join the NPVIC. These jurisdictions have a total of 196 electoral votes. Thus, the Compact had 196 of the 270 Electoral votes needed to adopt the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. In this fall’s election, Colorado voted to join the NPVIC, providing nine more electoral votes for a total of 205. The bill will take effect when enacted by states possessing an additional 65 electoral votes.
Virginians have long backed a national popular vote for president. A poll in 2008 showed that 74 percent of Virginians supported such a plan. People in Virginia who favor this plan should call their legislators and tell them so.