Free Republic

The tinfoil hat wearers, the faction that includes moon-landing deniers and the kind of crackpots William F. Buckley Jr. and Russell Kirk expelled from mainstream conservatism, has set its sights on derailing the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. The Compact is the constitutionally conservative agreement that guarantees 270 electoral votes and the presidency to the candidate who wins the most individual votes across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Fifteen states and the district have already passed the compact, giving the measure 196 of the 270 Electoral College votes necessary for it to take effect. With momentum for...

Article II of the Constitution gives states broad authority to decide how their electoral votes are selected and divided among the candidates. In 48 states, the candidate who gets the most votes wins all of the state’s electoral votes. But the Constitution doesn’t require that rule. Maine and Nebraska have implemented district- by-district voting. One electoral vote goes to the winner in each congressional district, and the remaining two electoral votes are awarded to the winner of the statewide popular vote. Assume, however, that a state enacts a law giving all its electoral votes to the presidential candidate who wins...