Couldn’t the states not participating in the “Compact” withhold their vote counts? That would make it difficult for the “Compact” states to appoint their electors based on a nationwide vote.
That’s a good question! I would have to go back to check what is the mechanism by which states within the compact receive vote totals from states not a part of the compact. Obviously, without a popular vote total, the compact states wouldn’t know where to throw their Electoral votes.
Current federal law (Title 3, chapter 1, section 6 of the United States Code) requires the states to report the November popular vote numbers (the “canvas”) in what is called a “Certificate of Ascertainment.” You can see the Certificates of Ascertainment for all 50 states and the District of Columbia containing the official count of the popular vote at the NARA web site at http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/2004/certificates_of_ascertainment.html
http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/2008/certificates-of-ascertainment.html