Attacks on the Electoral College Gain Momentum

National Review Online ^ | 06/24/2010 | Tara Ross

[OldDeckHand]

You won’t hear about it in the mainstream media, but the Electoral College is on the verge of being eliminated. One important legislative vote could occur Thursday. Two others could occur in the upcoming days and weeks.

A California-based group, National Popular Vote, is lobbying hard for a dangerous piece of anti-Electoral College legislation. My NRO article on the mechanics of the legislation is here. Five states have already approved NPV, but now three additional states are dangerously close to joining them: Delaware, Massachusetts, and New York. Another trio of state legislatures approved the scheme, but their governors vetoed the plan. These latter states remain important; a reasonable argument can be made that the gubernatorial vetoes are irrelevant.

If each of these states is counted, NPV could have as many as 169 electoral votes in favor of its plan. It needs 270. NPV has come startlingly close to success even as most Americans remain completely unaware that the presidential-election process is so close to being turned on its head.

The American presidential-election system is a unique blend of federalism and democracy, combining purely democratic state-level elections with a national election among the states. The practical effect of this system is that a candidate can’t win unless he appeals to a wide variety of voters around the nation. NPV’s plan tries to keep the democratic portions of the election, even as it strips the system of its federalist aspects. It fails, instead managing to lose both.

[OldDeckHand]

"My question is who is paying for this movement? Soros? "

That's a good question. Unfortunately, it's a 501c(4), not a 501c(3). As such, they are not required by law to make their donor list publicly available.

Because they engage in a plainly political endeavor, I'm not entirely sure how they qualify as a 501c(4). I'm not very well versed in campaign finance laws. Perhaps someone else could explain.

[Lmo56]

Actually, it is covered under Article II, Section I of the Constitution - and states are allowed to choose their electors in any manner they please ...

“Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.”

This is DANGEROUS !!! I live in MD and they have already passed this bill. If enough states [totalling 270 electoral votes] pass this legislation, the MD law becomes active. It works like this:

No matter who wins in the state of MD, all of its electoral votes will be cast for the winner of the National Popular Vote [NPV]. So, if the GOP wins MD [not damn likely], MD’s votes would go to the DEM [if he wins the NPV].

This will lead to major campaigning in ONLY the states with the biggest populations: CA, FL, MA, MI, NY, IL, IN, OH, PA, TX, etc.

[Smokin' Joe]

The Seventeenth Amendment has already brought us too close to that precipice. It should be repealed, along with the Sixteenth.

[johnthebaptistmoore]

Leftist power forever. That’s all that most leftists care about.

[funfan]

Here isa link to the site of the National Popular Vote
if anyone is interested

http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/pages/explanation.php

[mike-zed]

And the Acorn/SEIU ballot stuffing and rampant voter fraud in cities like Chicago get counted the same as those votes in honest states/cities.

It’s not democracy, it’s worse.

[thecodont]

http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/pages/about.php

Advisory Board
John Anderson (R-I–IL)
Birch Bayh (D–IN)
John Buchanan (R–AL)
Tom Campbell (R–CA)
Tom Downey (D–NY)
D. Durenberger (R–MN)
Jake Garn (R–UT)

Endorsements

http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/pages/organizations/endorsements.php

Organizational Endorsements
Asian American Action Fund
Common Cause
FairVote
Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action
NAACP
National Latino Congreso
National Black Caucus of State Legislators
Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund
US PIRG
Public Citizen
Sierra Club

Legislative Sponsors or have cast recorded votes in favor

http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/pages/misc/voteyes_10per.php

Click to see individual states:

Arkansas
http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/pages/misc/voteyes_10per.php?s=AR
California
http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/pages/misc/voteyes_10per.php?s=CA
Colorado
http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/pages/misc/voteyes_10per.php?s=CO
Hawaii
http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/pages/misc/voteyes_10per.php?s=HI
Illinois
http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/pages/misc/voteyes_10per.php?s=IL
Maryland
http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/pages/misc/voteyes_10per.php?s=MD
Maine
http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/pages/misc/voteyes_10per.php?s=ME
Montana
http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/pages/misc/voteyes_10per.php?s=MT
North Carolina
http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/pages/misc/voteyes_10per.php?s=NC
North Dakota
http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/pages/misc/voteyes_10per.php?s=ND
New Jersey
http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/pages/misc/voteyes_10per.php?s=NJ
Rhode Island
http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/pages/misc/voteyes_10per.php?s=RI
Vermont
http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/pages/misc/voteyes_10per.php?s=VT
Washington
http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/pages/misc/voteyes_10per.php?s=WA

The last time I heard such a fuss over the Electoral College was in late 2000.

[Noob1999]

Eliminating the Electoral College would be a disaster!

The last worst Amendment was Amendment #17 of 1913, wherein the Constitution was amended to have the states’ Senators to be elected by a popular vote, replacing the Constitution’s Senators appointment by the state legislatures.

We already had a popular house of Congress, The House. The Framers had it right in having the State legislatures voting on whom they picked for their two senators, in staggered 6 year terms.

Thus, the Framers had the House composed of two year popular vote winners, yet, the six year Senate members were supposed to represent State Rights. A senator could be recalled at the will of the state if he voted against the issues important to the state legislature.

After the 1913 amendment, we have two popularity voted legislatures, one set for two years, the other set for 6 years - with no-one representing the states’s rights, just a bunch of politicians trying to suck as much cash out of the Federal system as earmarks will allow.

No more legislative branch checks and balances - the people of the states choose who represents them, regardless of qualifications.

Now the liberals are trying to erode all the checks and balances the Framers placed within the Constitution for the executive branch.

We used to have a great governance, the Constitution. Now it’s been eroded, slated to be eroded in the future.

Maybe after a few more years of Zer0, there will be direct election of the Supreme Court.

Then maybe the Muzzies will be able to reorganize under Sharia law!

[OldDeckHand]

That is a broad statement and very problematic in this regard. But, I don’t know how this could be described as anything other than a compact. The law is clear and has been upheld by SCOTUS in at least two key decisions, compacts MUST be approved by Congress.

[Alter Kaker]

It works until the food producing states (and California?s Central Valley) decide that it is no longer useful to to give their production to leeches.

Who you calling leaches? Farmers are the biggest welfare queens known to man. There isn't a farm in the country that would be in the black without government subsidies. Food is just like any other commodity - if you don't want to grow it in Iowa there is no problem growing it in Mexico, Brazil, etc. The only change consumers will notice is lower cost.

[Mad Dawgg]

"If they ditch the Electoral College, they may as well lock me up because I would take to the streets raising some major L."

I would think it would take an Ammedment to change the Electoral Process.

[thecodont]

I would think it would take an Ammedment to change the Electoral Process.

It would take a Constitutional Amendment to allow us to have a President who isn't a natural born citizen, but the lack of one hasn't stopped the current "occupant" BO or those who supported him on his journey there.

[butterdezillion]

We have no Constitution. Anything that’s unenforced is, for all practical purposes, non-existent.

Obama is an ineligible president who is ruling by executive order in order to bypass all the due process, separation of powers, checks and balances, and rule of law that we Americans know and love. The coup has already happened.

[Irenic]

I hope things still work as they’re supposed to.

I just don’t know any longer, I’ve lost trust.

[montanajoe]

It will take an amendment and the chances of an amendment passing get better every year. I would suspect the electoral college will last no more than twenty years...

[little jeremiah]

You are absolutely right. Now the question is, are thsoe who are capable of reversing this going to do anything about it, or just march to the slaughterhouse submissively?

[funfan]

My Govenor Schwanegger (Ca) vetoed this bill so Calif is not a part of this at this time although the legislature which is controlled by the Democrts and if Jerry brown wins
election this fall I suspect this bill will come back and he will sign it. I checked Illinois and Blagovich did sign it into law I suspect anywhere there is a Democrat Govenor this law will be enacted in that state

[ccmay]

I’m not so sure this would work to the Right’s disadvantage. We start every election with the electoral votes of California and New York pretty much lost. There are a LOT of Republicans in Orange County, the Central Valley, and upstate New York. This would give them a real voice in the election. Much easier for the Republicans to pick up votes here than it is for the Dems to scratch up votes from two dozen scattered, heterogeneous, reliably red states.

[Liberty Valance]

When asked what she thought about abolishing the Electoral College former First Lady, Senator and current Secretary of State said: "Wyoming will never go for it."

[ApplegateRanch]

There is a huge Constitutional difference between the state legislature setting rules on how to choose Electors; and the state legislature telling those duly elected Electors how to vote.

OTOH, it may set a precident, whereby the People require thier "representatives" to actually cast their votes as directed by those same PEOPLE. Yeah, I know: fat chance.