Oregon legislature passed National Popular Vote today! This makes 14 states + Wash. D.C.

[Amaryllis]

Today the Oregon legislature passed National Popular Vote legislation -- an agreement between states to ensure that the national popular vote decides who wins in U.S. presidential elections.

The bill will now head to Governor Brown's desk for her signature.

Oregon will join 14 other states (and Washington, D.C.) that have already signed this agreement, representing a combined total of 189 Electoral College votes -- nearly 3/4ths of the Electoral College votes needed to put this reform into effect.
Americans generally assume that majority rules in choosing U.S. presidents, but as we’ve seen in multiple presidential elections -- including the most recent one -- it's possible to win the Electoral College vote without an actual majority of votes.

The National Popular Vote interstate compact provides a simple solution. States agree to allocate their electoral votes differently -- casting them for the winner of the national popular vote rather than state by state, winner-take-all. The compact will only take effect when enough states who together control a majority of Electoral College votes sign on.

The Oregon legislature passed the National Popular Vote bill through the House chamber today, having already passed it through the Senate chamber. It now goes to the governor for her signature.

From a Common Cause email today.


For anyone who would like some background, thanks to Pat k: https://www.nationalpopularvote.com/

[pat_k]

1. For anyone who would like some background: https://www.nationalpopularvote.com/

For anyone who would like some background: https://www.nationalpopularvote.com/

You can also look up the status of any legislative activities on the compact in your state.

[Amaryllis]

2. I'm going to add this to the OP. I just assumed people here knew what it was, but maybe not.

[pat_k]

3. It's handy for checking to see if there has been any activity in your state

You may be right -- that most people here are up on it. The site is particularly useful for checking to see if there has been any activity in your own state:

https://www.nationalpopularvote.com/state-status

[Amaryllis]

4. Thank you! Wouldn't it be great if we had enough by Nov. 2020.

[pat_k]

5. Absolutely -- and could happen

From https://www.nationalpopularvote.com/state-status

(Note: Status doesn't yet include Oregon's 7 electoral votes)

The National Popular Vote bill will take effect when enacted into law by states possessing 270 electoral votes (a majority of the 538 electoral votes). It has been enacted into law in 15 jurisdictions possessing 189 electoral votes, including 5 small jurisdictions (DC, DE, HI, RI, VT), 6 medium-sized states (CO, CT, MD, MA, NM, WA), and 4 big states (CA, IL, NJ, NY).

The bill will take effect when enacted by states possessing an additional 81 electoral votes.

The National Popular Vote bill has now passed a total of 40 state legislative chambers in 24 states. It has also passed at least one legislative chamber in 9 states possessing 82 electoral votes (AR, AZ, ME, MI, MN, NC, NV, OK, OR). It has been unanimously approved at the committee level in 2 states possessing 27 more electoral votes (GA, MO). The National Popular Vote bill has been introduced in various years in all 50 states.

[Amaryllis]

6. Just looked up FL. I was thinking how great it would be if we could get a few more states with

a lot of electoral votes. There was a bill in FL but here is the latest:
Last Action: 5/3/2019 House - Died in Oversight, Transparency and Public Management
Even though an overwhelming majority of Floridians support it.

[pat_k]

7. Grrrrr....

Fingers crossed that other legislative bodies may start thinking about the prospect of yet another popular vote loser being elevated to office -- and decide to take action.

What is a bit tragic is that the electoral college is actually intended to be a backstop against malfeasance in a state. It is the duty of members of congress to object to the electors from a state that has unlawfully awarded its electors when they conduct their count of electors on Jan 6. Given their failure to do so in re: the stolen elections in FL 2000 and OH 2004, implementing National Popular Vote makes sense as a means to counter to the advantage the electoral system gives to extremely low population (generally red) states. (Although, my thoughts on it are still a bit mixed because the compact does not appear to have any mechanism for throwing out electors from a state that failed to appoint their electors pursuant to a lawful, free, and fair election.)

[Amaryllis]

8. Remember the congressional challenge of the electoral vote in 2004? Turned out to be mostly for show

I watched it on TV and was still naive enough then to think it might actually do something.

[pat_k]

9. Getting a Senator (Boxer) to join Stephanie Tubbs Jones was actually quite an accomplishment...

Even though the electors were not tossed out by the vote in the joint session, Bush's election will forever be stained by the record as one of three occasions an objection was raised in our history -- 1877, 1968 (objection to a single "faithless" elector) and 2004 Ohio.

A formal objection that mandates an immediate stop to the count for a joint session to debate and vote on whether or not to toss out the tainted electors needs both a Senator and a member of the House.

In 2000, there was a big push to recruit a Senator to join members of the House in an objection -- without success. There was a far bigger, more coordinated effort in 2004. Although a central figure in the effort, John Conyers and his staffers, told us repeatedly that we would "never get a Senator" -- essentially declaring defeat even as we were fighting for victory. When we did "win" and get Boxer to sign on, it challenged the general, pervasive defeatist "conventional wisdom" that has long infected the democratic leadership -- always a good thing. It also challenged their central meme for doing nothing on just about anything -- "there will be a backlash" (or some terrible political price) if we do the right thing, so principles be damned. (The feared "political price" for standing up did not materialize. The opposite. Those who stood up gained stature for drawing a line in the sand.)

Another thing unique about the effort is that an enormous number of "regular people" were knocking on Senator's doors, having meetings with staffers, bringing petitions from constituents. We just had a couple days from the arrival of the new congress and the count. In the compressed timeframe, offices were overwhelmed with calls and visitors in a way they had never seen before. The effort itself engaged people who stayed politically engaged on other issues; people who learned a lot about how to lobby members of congress.

Compared to the heartbreaking scenes in 2000 (video below), listening to some of the more powerful statements condemning Ohio's election that are on the record as a result of the objection was pretty gratifying.

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