The current state-by-state winner-take-all system of awarding electoral votes maximizes the incentive and opportunity for fraud. A very few people can change the national outcome by changing a small number of votes in one closely divided battleground state. With the current system all of a state’s electoral votes are awarded to the candidate who receives a bare plurality of the votes in each state. The sheer magnitude of the national popular vote number, compared to individual state vote totals, is much more robust against manipulation.
National Popular Vote would limit the benefits to be gained by fraud. One fraudulent vote would only win one vote in the return. In the current electoral system, one fraudulent vote could mean 55 electoral votes, or just enough electoral votes to win the presidency without having the most popular votes in the country.
Hendrik Hertzberg wrote: “To steal the closest popular-vote election in American history, you’d have to steal more than a hundred thousand votes . . .To steal the closest electoral-vote election in American history, you’d have to steal around 500 votes, all in one state. . . .
For a national popular vote election to be as easy to switch as 2000, it would have to be two hundred times closer than the 1960 election—and, in popular-vote terms, forty times closer than 2000 itself.
Which, I ask you, is an easier mark for vote-stealers, the status quo or N.P.V.[National Popular Vote]? Which offers thieves a better shot at success for a smaller effort?”
NPV would render many/most states’ votes moot outright.
Per prior post, between population and popular vote Texas out-votes Wyoming 45-to-1, while using Electoral votes brings that down to a more sensible 14-to-1 and persuades candidates to at least show up there.
I’d rather the problem be theft than systemic exclusion.
On the other hand, once you've stuffed in enough fraudulent votes to steal a state, further fraudulent votes in that state do not count. Under a national popular vote, they would.
A better idea would be to allocate each state one electoral vote per congressional district, plus two more votes to the candidate winning the majority of the districts or, in the event of a tie in districts, the state's popular vote. That way, for example, stuffing the ballot box in Gary, Indiana would steal a maximum of one electoral vote, no matter how many fraudulent votes were cast. Under the current system, it would steal eleven.
Another problem with a national popular vote is disputes. With NPV, you’d have to recount the whole country. In 2000, we only needed to do Florida. If, as I suggested above, it went by congressional district, then the recount need would likely be limited to one or two districts.
Nice try - Poindexter ...
Let us suppose that there are enough states [10, 15, whatever] that participate in the NPV - totalling EXACTLY 270 electoral votes and that the NPV is in effect for a particular election.
Let us FURTHER suppose that one candidate actually WINS the popular vote INTERNALLY in all of these states, so that he WILL win the ENTIRE 270 electoral vote slate IF he wins the popular vote nationally.
AND let us further suppose that there are 100,000,001 votes cast nationally. 50,000,000 for the candidate that won the NPV states INTERNALLY and 50,000,001 for the other candidate [who is then awarded the 270 electoral votes of the NPV states].
FINALLY, let us suppose that JUST 2 of the 50,000,001 votes cast for the other candidate were fraudulent [but unknown to be fraudulent by the national electorate].
WHAT is the effect?
The 270 electoral votes of the NPV states are ERRONOUSLY awarded to the other cadidate and, thus, the Presidency. A MERE 2 fraudulent votes, in the right scenario, can cost the LEGITIMATE winner the election ...