What is the "national popular vote"?
Who counts the votes? Who certifies it? How is it audited in case of a dispute? To whom would a dispute be addressed?
Supposing this system is constitutional - what if NJ, Washington State, and Maryland keep Trump off their ballots, as they have promised to do? What if California does? Donald Trump got 4,483,000 votes in California in 2016.
What authority would be in charge of defining and validating a "national popular vote"? The Washington Post? MSNBC?
The whole PURPOSE of State Legislatures controlling the choice of the President was to PREVENT a national authority (i.e., the sitting President and Congress) from controlling the process.
That is a great point. I imagine it would fall on the certified vote as designated by the state.
And do we include the votes of Territories?