Colorado governor will sign bill aimed at bypassing electoral college

[demmiblue]

Source: The Hill

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) will sign a measure to award his state’s electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote, moving a country-wide coalition one step closer to circumventing the electoral college.

In an interview Sunday, Polis called the electoral college an “undemocratic relic” of the nation’s past, one he wants to see relegated to the dustbin of history.

“I’ve long supported electing the president by who gets the most votes,” Polis told The Hill. “It’s a way to move towards direct election of the president.”

Colorado will become the 12th state to join the National Popular Vote interstate compact. Those 12 states and the District of Columbia, which has also passed a popular vote bill, account for 172 electoral votes, just under 98 shy of the 270 votes a presidential candidate needs to win the White House.

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/431425-colorado-governor-will-sign-bill-aimed-at-bypassing-electoral-college

[groundloop]

1. Unfortunately only blue states are participating in this

[olegramps]

2. When the tide turns against them the will follow suit.

[onit2day]

12. Hopefully enough states will join to get the additional 98 votes to elect a president

by popular vote

[Maraya1969]

3. I wonder how many other Democratic governors will follow suit.

[pat_k]

6. Status here:

https://www.nationalpopularvote.com

[montanacowboy]

4. High time this happens

We must have direct elections for the President. One man, one vote. This old antiquity of voting for electors who will vote for the president - maybe good in the 1700's but hey, hello.

If we have one man, one vote, we will have Democratic presidents. The Republicans know this, that is the only way they can win is through the electoral college. It has to stop now.

[volstork]

10. "One man, one vote."

Um, can we include women, too? We've been able to vote for 100 of the nation's 243 years.

[Stonepounder]

13. OK, how about "One voter, one vote" ?

[volstork]

14. Now yer talkin'

[PatSeg]

5. Another really positive aspect of this

is it will bring out more voters who are reluctant to vote for president, because they live in a red state or a blue state and they feel like their vote won't count.

[California_Republic]

19. And the candidates will go everywhere!

If you live in a state that is locked For one party you almost never see a presidential candidate. They are always visiting the states that are in play

[PatSeg]

24. Exactly

A real 50 state strategy!

[oldsoftie]

7. But is it Constitutional? I do not know all the rules of the Electoral College.

But a state passing a law to circumvent part of the Constitution would likely be voided by the court, IMO.

[kchamberlin25]

9. States can assign their electors

in any way they see fit. They are not going against the constitution.

[Massacure]

18. Yes, but there is one really big BUT

The constitution specifically states, "No State shall, without the Consent of Congress... enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State"

A state is clearly capable of assigning its electors to the winner of the national electoral vote; however, if they do that then they need to do that regardless of what other states do. If a state's law is written such that it assigns its electors to the winner of the national popular vote if and only if states representing 270 electoral votes do so, they are clearly participating in an "Agreement or Compact" and are just begging to get shot down in court.

[h2ebits]

8. And yet another good reason to have this

The more states that sign on to this, the fewer "fly-over" states there will be because presidential candidates will have to visit ALL states in order to get the votes. At this time, candidates only visit states where they can pick up the most electoral votes and by-pass states with less electoral votes and/or states that are a "sure thing" because of gerrymandering.

I believe the National Popular Vote interstate compact started out as a bipartisan plan and has more recently been politicized by the Republican Party. Please don't help them in this effort. In fact, the National Popular Vote is all about the people of this Nation--each and every one of us--casting a vote that counts for president.

[ProfessorPlum]

11. YES

I have been advocating for this for precisely this reason - it makes every vote count, it makes votes in red and blue states count, it actually creates democracy and reasons to vote.

Yours is a great reason

[Demit]

15. How could an article about a state's electoral votes not mention how many votes the state has?

I know I could look it up myself but jeez. Seems a natural thing you would mention.

[BigmanPigman]

16. I was just discussing this last night.

A friend (she doesn't have the internet) said she just read that Hillary got 3 million more votes and how do we get rid of the electoral college. I didn't know that this route was a possibility. Yeah! Now we have to get the number of senators from each state reflect that state's population.

[Polybius]

20. "Senators from each state reflect that state's population" would take at least a C.A.

It would take at the very least a Constitutional Amendment. The number of Senators is set by the Constitution.

[BigmanPigman]

21. I know this would take a C.A. and thought the same about

getting rid of the Electoral College. I didn't know that individual states could get around that one. As long as we have a ton of red state senators against any changes it won't happen, unless there is a way around that too. Is there one? What does it take to pass a C. A.?

[Polybius]

22. I can't see how there would be a workaround to each state having two Senators

But I'm certainly open to hearing any opinions on this.

[BlueIdaho]

17. We need more of this... Lots more of this... nt.

[Puzzledtraveller]

23. and what if we lose the popular vote?

Naw, Ill stick to the EC.

[ck4829]

26. When has the EC benefited us where the popular vote didn't?

[ck4829]

25. Kick