no electoral college pretty much means no representation for states like Road Island, Idaho and other states with small populations no electoral college pretty much means no representation for states like Road Island, Idaho and other states with small populationsYES. YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT. Do these people think all of us are too stupid to understand, one person / one vote only works in a Democracy and then, only if all voters can fit into a meeting hall. Did you watch the videos on my blog, explaining the Electors? One of them shows the origins in ancient Rome, where groups of 100 men - rich, poor, soldiers, farmers - each got 1 vote. Because they saw the value in ‘mixing it up’ so as to give equal weight to disparately situated citizens. (’Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.’)
Under National Popular Vote, when every vote counts, successful candidates will continue to find a middle ground of policies appealing to the wide mainstream of America. Instead of playing mostly to local concerns in Ohio and Florida, candidates finally would have to form broader platforms for broad national support . It would no longer matter who won a state.
Now the state-by-state winner-take-all laws awarding electoral votes, do not protect small states against large ones. Swing states dominate. In the 2008 election, both major presidential candidates spent 98% of their time and money in only 15 states (CO, FL, IN, IA, MI, MN, MO, NV, NH, NM, NC, OH, PA, VA, and WI), and over 50% in just 4 (Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania and Virginia). Only 15 states out of 50 were in play. Only voters in those 15 got attention. Issues that play well in those 15 states get excessive focus. Voters in those 15 states have hugely disproportionate influence over who will be our President, while voters in 35 states have no influence on who their next President will be. Under National Popular Vote, swing states would lose their excessive power because all votes, in every state, would count equally.
Now the state-by-state winner-take-all Electoral College always ignores the smallest states (3-4 electoral votes). 12 of the 13 smallest states are almost invariably non-competitive, and ignored, in presidential elections. Six regularly vote Republican (Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, and South Dakota), and six regularly vote Democratic (Rhode Island, Delaware, Hawaii, Vermont, Maine, and DC) in presidential elections. Eight state legislative chambers in the smallest states have passed the bill. It has been enacted by Hawaii.