NJ and Maryland Electoral Votes Based on National Popular Vote

CBS News (AP) ^ | 01/13/2008 | AP

[NutmegDevil]

New Jersey Rejects Electoral College Two States Have Now Joined Compact To Give Their Votes To Winner Of The Popular Vote =============== (AP) New Jersey on Sunday became the second state to enter a compact that would eliminate the Electoral College's power to choose a president if enough states endorse the idea.

Gov. Jon S. Corzine signed legislation that approves delivering the state's 15 electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote. The Assembly approved the bill last month and the Senate followed suit earlier this month.

Maryland - with 10 electoral votes - had been the only state to pass the compact into law. ....

[SAJ]

Exactly.

[Centurion2000]

The national popular vote will turn their electoral votes to the candidate receiving the most total votes.

Which basically means that the state legislature told the voters of NJ to get bent, your vote doesn't count.

This will last until those states' EC votes get handed over to President Palin in 2012 ;)

[Fabozz]

"They are apparently so stupid they don't realize the pact could just as easily result in a Republican winning as a Democrat."

Not a chance in the world. If that happened, they would simply void the pact and vote for the Dem anyway. The NPVIC is on very shaky Constitutional ground to begin with. If it was on the verge of doing something so hideously, glaringly wrong as electing a <gasp>Republican, then an army of Constitutional law professors would march on the Supreme Court and have it struck down.

[SW6906]

This has been discussed at quite some length here. The gist of it is that this will make it so that the few states with large liberal cities will determine who the President is. Democrat candidates will only need to campaign to win the large cities and they will win the Electoral votes.

[thefrankbaum]

Exactly.

[devere]

“This makes it a compact among states. Compacts among states must be approved by Congress to be valid.”

Correct.

Some obvious problems with this nitwit idea are:

(1) Who counts the so-called “nationwide popular vote”? CNN?
(2) Who administers a nationwide recount?
(3) Who stops one corrupt political machine in a single state from deciding a national election?

[Starstruck]

I think States could throw darts at candidate’s names to pick its electors and it wouldn’t violate the Constitution.

[kabar]

National Popular Vote

[Centurion2000]

What I want to know is how a state unilaterally nullify the Constitution without going through the process of amendment?

Because it is clearly spelled out in the Constitution that the state legislature shall determine how the EC votes are allocated. There are multiple ways they could do it. State wide citizen vote, parliamentary vote through the legislature, flip a coin for each EC vote, trial by combat, all of them are 'legal' by the Constitution.

[Sherman Logan]

I believe the Constitution will have to be changed and IIRC, it’s a 2/3 vote.

Worse than that. An amendment requires a 2/3 vote in each house of Congress and ratification by 3/4 of the states.

There's a reason we don't amend the Constitution any more.

[Sherman Logan]

I believe the Constitution will have to be changed and IIRC, it’s a 2/3 vote.

Worse than that. An amendment requires a 2/3 vote in each house of Congress and ratification by 3/4 of the states.

There's a reason we don't amend the Constitution any more.

[SAJ]

Fiddlesticks. Where is it etched in granite that a 'compact' must be written down?

The very fact that these states are and have been for some time discussing this among themselves makes it a compact.

You and I, or any two other parties, can very easily make a compact, at law, by simply agreeing verbally that we both shall do such-and-so at some future time under some set of conditions.

[Reeses]

Democrat snake-pits

I'm sure it would be subject to interpretation who won the popular vote to throw it to the left.

East coast Democrats are very different than west coast ones. NJ is very conservative and tradition oriented. The stores play music from 30 years ago, many banks still have drive up tellers instead of ATMs, women have beehive hairdos, there is no deposit on soda cans. The attraction to Democrats is about corruption, getting union and government jobs and pay raises for family and friends. They have little interest in destroying America like the left coast Democrats are working to do.

[bert]

When defeat is certain, make waves and blow some smoke to seem like you are winning. A second version of this tactic is taking place in Alaska and known as Troopergate.

[Combat_Liberalism]

How sweet it will be when a Republican wins the popular vote while losing the electoral college vote, but wins the election because the geniuses in Joizy conspired to bite themselves in their own stinky butts.

[Maine Mariner]

Maine allocates its electoral votes based on who wins in each congressional district. The state has 2 districts. If McCain wins in district 2 and Obama in district 1 each gets one electoral vote.
Maine has a total of 4 electoral votes-in essence the number of districts + number of senators. Whoever wins the popular vote in the state wins the extra 2 electoral votes.
The Constitution created the electoral college but does not tell the states they cannot do what Maine has done and New Jersey trying to do.

[MDformerDem]

This bill is Jamie Raskin from TAKOMA PARK's baby.

For out-of-staters:

Takoma Park is known as an extremely liberal community, sometimes called "the Berkeley of the East" or "The People's Republic of Takoma Park." The City Council voted unanimously in 1983 to become a nuclear free zone. As a result, no city purchases or investments can be carried out with entities that make nuclear weapons, components or delivery systems. In accordance with the city's principles, Takoma Park allows non-U.S.-citizen residents to vote in their own municipal elections. The city was also forbidden, by statute, from doing business with any entity having commercial ties with the government of Burma (Myanmar), though after a United States Supreme Court decision struck down a similar Massachusetts provision, enforcement of the provision was suspended in the year 2000. As of 2007, the Free Burma Committee is inactive. Takoma Park is also forbidden from purchasing any World Bank financial instruments. In addition, residents must obtain a permit to cut down any tree on their property measuring more than 8 inches in diameter. On July 23, 2007 Takoma Park joined 80 other jurisdictions when its city council adopted a resolution to impeach President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard B. Cheney

[AlphaOneAlpha]

“Sigh. Cherry Hill, NJ is a nice place to live. Corzine is making it more and more difficult to remain.”

My wife and I were both born in NJ and spent nearly all of our lives in the state, sans the time spent at college and in my case also the service. We packed up and left NJ in the spring of 2003. THE BEST THING WE EVER DID. I can’t stand to go back just to visit family and friends. NJ is hosed.
There’s an entire country out there with some very good states to choose from.

[Sherman Logan]

You are exactly right. Having the electors chosen by the voters is a tradition. It isn’t in the Constitution.

[kabar]

Here is the basis for the movement and how it addresses the constitutionality of the compacts: EVERY VOTE EQUAL: A State-Based Plan For Electing The President By National Popular Vote

The National Popular Vote Movement is not a joke or some fringe group. They are trying to circumvent the need to amend the constitution and have what amounts to the direct election of the President by the popular vote. Four states have enacted the bill thru their legislatures signed by their governors. Check out the advisory board.