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IT PASSED: Swing State Votes to Give Electoral Votes to Winner of Popular Vote
Young Conservatives ^ | May 22, 2019 | Editorial Staff

Posted on 05/22/2019 10:20:46 AM PDT by UMCRevMom@aol.com

In order to do anything they can to stop President Trump from winning in 2020, Democrats in the Nevada Senate approved a National Popular Vote bill on a party-line vote, which will get rid of the Electoral College.

From the Washington Times:

Assembly Bill 186, which passed the Senate on a 12-8 vote, would bring Nevada into the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, an agreement between participating states to cast their electoral votes for the winner of the popular vote.

If signed as expected by Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak, Nevada would become the 16th jurisdiction to join the compact, along with 14 states and the District of Columbia. The compact would take effect after states totaling 270 electoral votes, and with Nevada, the total would reach 195.

While the effort has been billed by organizers as bipartisan, Democrats have embraced the NPV in the aftermath of President Trump’s 2016 victory, which saw the Republican win the electoral vote but not the popular vote.

Leftist groups like Common Cause, Indivisible and Public Citizen cheered the Nevada vote.

“The movement to abolish the electoral college is winning,” tweeted Public Citizen.

The NPV would not eliminate the Electoral College, but would render it irrelevant by requiring electors to vote for the national vote-winner instead of the candidate capturing the most votes in their states.

Supporters argue that it would shift the focus of presidential elections away from a handful of swing states, while critics say it would concentrate power in states like California and New York with the largest population centers.

Colorado, Delaware and New Mexico joined the compact in the 2019 legislative session, and other Democrat-controlled states are poised to follow.

Last week, the Maine Senate approved an NPV bill, sending it to the House. The Oregon bill has been approved by the Senate, and a House committee held a hearing Monday on the measure.

Here’s a great take on why this would be so damaging and not work like Democrats think it will. Special interests will take over this country.

From Real Clear Politics:

Unfortunately, like most of the ideas to improve our election system, this one will not accomplish what its sponsors intend, will result in the election of presidents who only get a fraction of the popular vote, and will likely enrage the voters of the very states that have already voted to join the system. The sponsors of this plan have not thought it through.

The first thing to understand about the American voting system is that it is the Electoral College that assures the continued existence of the two-party system. Because the winner of the presidency must get a majority of the electoral votes, the candidates of splinter or special interest parties have no chance to win—and for that reason they cannot get sufficient financing and other support to mount a serious campaign.

We have certainly had third and fourth parties in presidential elections, but their most effective role has been to bring ideas into the debate that might never otherwise receive attention, and they generally don’t survive to the next election. Nevertheless, when they have been in the field, they have deprived the candidates of the major parties of a national popular majority even though they have not interfered with the choice of the president through the Electoral College. Modern examples are the two Clinton elections in 1992 and 1996, and George W. Bush’s election in 2000.

The NPV plan would vastly improve the chances of a splinter or special interest candidate to win the presidency. In a wide enough field, a special interest candidate could easily win with less than a quarter of the national popular vote, and for this reason there will inevitably be a large number of splinter or special interest candidates running for president if the plan goes into effect.


TOPICS: Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Nevada
KEYWORDS: 2020election; commoncause; constitution; electoralcollege; faithlesselectors; indivisible; nationalpopularvote; nevada; npv; nv2020; publiccitizen; seestory1240pm; trump2020
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To: UMCRevMom@aol.com
I don't know how much of a "swing state" Nevada is. At best it's slightly purple.

Trump spent half as much money on hos campaign as as Clinton spent on her's. He spent about $0 in California and New York. If he had dumped the other half in California and New York, he surely would have run up the scoreboard, past Clinton's total. The reason he didn't was because it was a waste of money to accomplish the job he needed to do.

101 posted on 05/22/2019 1:19:56 PM PDT by Sooth2222 ("Every nation gets the government it deserves." -Joseph de Maistre)
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To: New Jersey Realist

. At least the EC helps prevent some fraud.


Not really. It only ameliorates the effect.


102 posted on 05/22/2019 1:21:37 PM PDT by sparklite2 (Don't mind me. I'm just a contrarian.)
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To: gibsonguy

I would think this change will have to be done by Constitutional amendment.


103 posted on 05/22/2019 1:23:43 PM PDT by RinaseaofDs
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To: Maskot

She hasn’t been seen in public since last December 16th, so where is Ruth? My guess is on life support somewhere. Trump should demand proof of life and send over investigators to check on her. This is a total fraud on the country.


104 posted on 05/22/2019 1:24:00 PM PDT by Captain Peter Blood
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To: beaversmom
I’m going to laugh my ass off when Trump wins the pop vote.

With no national voter ID law?

105 posted on 05/22/2019 1:25:16 PM PDT by ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas (Mozart tells you what it's like to be human. Bach tells you what it's like to be the universe)
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To: Maskot

She’s a Borg, and regenerates instead of sleeping.


106 posted on 05/22/2019 1:31:06 PM PDT by rfp1234 (I don't watch CNN for the same reason I don't drink from the toilet.)
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To: Maskot
Speaking of Ginsberg, anyone seen or heard a peep out of her coffin?


107 posted on 05/22/2019 1:52:13 PM PDT by Bubba_Leroy (The Obamanation has ended!)
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To: rfp1234

108 posted on 05/22/2019 1:56:07 PM PDT by Bubba_Leroy (The Obamanation has ended!)
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To: UMCRevMom@aol.com
...which will get rid of the Electoral College.

False. No need to read further.

109 posted on 05/22/2019 1:58:10 PM PDT by Mr.Unique (The government, by its very nature, cannot give except what it first takes.)
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To: gibsonguy
This is unconstitutional...

How so?

110 posted on 05/22/2019 1:59:56 PM PDT by Mr.Unique (The government, by its very nature, cannot give except what it first takes.)
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To: hinckley buzzard
Another way it can backfire. Republicans generally don't campaign in Illinois, California, New York, Massachusetts, etc. because they can't win those states' winner-take-all EVs. But, if popular vote becomes important, Republicans will campaign heavily in those states.

Trump lost 2016 popular vote by 2.8 million votes. He lost California by 4.3 million, New York by 1.7 million, Illinois by 900,000 and Massachusetts by 900,000. All he would need to do is increase GOP vote by 5% in each of the four states and he wins the PV. Take 1.45 million votes from the Dem column and move to Rep column.
111 posted on 05/22/2019 2:00:03 PM PDT by Calvin Cooledge
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To: UMCRevMom@aol.com

They’ll look awful foolish when the Smurf who won the Dem nomination carries Nevada but loses the popular vote.


112 posted on 05/22/2019 2:05:09 PM PDT by Eleutheria5 (If you are not prepared to use force to defend civilization, then be prepared to accept barbarism.)
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To: Pilgrim's Progress

All conservative states should vote to triple their electoral votes. This is fun!


113 posted on 05/22/2019 2:05:13 PM PDT by spudville
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To: SaveFerris

Emotionally, few can resist the perfume of democracy.

But once the Presidency goes like the Senate, it is only a matter of time, maybe a generation, before a demagogue steps up to quell the inevitable violence and anarchy.


114 posted on 05/22/2019 2:06:20 PM PDT by Jacquerie (ArticleVBlog.com)
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To: mlo

This scheme subverts the original rationale behind the electoral college; prevent the populous states from dominating the smaller ones. That rationale is well known and was made explicit in the Federalist Papers, IIRC. There are a lot of other aspects of the Constitution were the underlying rationale for one provision or the other is not explicitly stated. This is because the Constitution implements decisions already argued over and resolved in the proceedings of the Constitutional Convetion. Could or, rather, will such an argument support a challenge to this agreement before the Supreme Court?


115 posted on 05/22/2019 2:08:44 PM PDT by Captain Rhino (Determined effort today forges tomorrow.)
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To: HamiltonJay

Trump received one electoral vote from Maine’s Second Congressional District in 2016. He won the district by 10 points, and Maine, like Nebraska, apportions it’s electoral votes.

The president has a very good chance of winning the entire state in 2020.


116 posted on 05/22/2019 2:12:59 PM PDT by july4thfreedomfoundation (President Trump is right! The media IS the enemy of the people!)
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To: The Great RJ

No, because they just set these “laws” aside when it doesn’t help them. Either flat out ignore it or find a judge to say it’s void.


117 posted on 05/22/2019 2:18:31 PM PDT by Rastus
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To: UMCRevMom@aol.com
The electoral college as it has been is a popular vote.
A popular vote for each State.

Why Maine or Colorado wants to be governed by New York or California(where many of the Coloradian escaped from) is beyond me.

118 posted on 05/22/2019 2:19:22 PM PDT by Vinnie
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To: SeekAndFind

Wrong about Hillary winning Maine...at least not all of it.

Maine’s Second Congressional District went for Donald Trump by 10 points in 2016. The 2nd district covers 80% of Maine, and is 27,000 square miles in area. It’s fairly rural, and very STRONG 2nd Amendment country.

Maine apportions it’s electoral votes and so does Nebraska (I wish California did so).

Donald Trump received once electoral vote for carrying the 2nd District here in Maine. Hillary Rotten Criminal carried the much more liberal 1st Congressional District in the southeast corner of Maine, and she received one electoral vote for doing so.

Pickles Clinton won the statewide popular vote by 2.9% and received two additional electoral votes as a result.

Madame Hillary started running TV spots in August 2016....Donald Trump not until October.

Donald Trump and his family made a number of visits to the 2nd Congressional district of Maine during the campaign, but in my humble opinion he could have taken the entire state if he ran more TV spots....the Wicked Witch of the West Wing ran far more ads.


119 posted on 05/22/2019 2:21:58 PM PDT by july4thfreedomfoundation (President Trump is right! The media IS the enemy of the people!)
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To: DaiHuy

The so-called compact only kicks in if states totaling 270 electoral votes sign on to it.

Right now, the total is under 200 and the “experts” don’t believe the magic number of 270 will be reached before the November 2020 election.


120 posted on 05/22/2019 2:24:44 PM PDT by july4thfreedomfoundation (President Trump is right! The media IS the enemy of the people!)
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