Minnesota House Passes National Popular Vote
70-59
The Minnesota House passed the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact to guarantee that the candidate who wins the most popular votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia becomes President.
This would be great time to use our convenient system to send emails asking your state legislators to support National Popular Vote legislation in your state.
70-59 Roll call of Minnesota House
SHORTCOMINGS OF THE CURRENT SYSTEM
The shortcomings of the current system of electing the President stem from existing state laws that award all of a state’s electoral votes to the presidential candidate who receives the most popular votes in the state.
  • Five of our 46 Presidents came into office without winning the most popular votes nationwide.
  • The current state-by-state winner-take-all system regularly enables a few thousand votes in a small number of states to decide the Presidency—thereby fueling post-election controversies and threatening the country’s stability.
  • Every vote is not equal throughout the United States under the current system.
  • The current system could easily result in the U.S. House of Representatives choosing the President on a one-state-one-vote basis.

WHAT NATIONAL POPULAR VOTE WILL DO
The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact will
  • apply the one-person-one-vote principle to presidential elections,
  • guarantee the presidency to the candidate who gets the most votes in all 50 states and DC,
  • give candidates a reason to campaign in all 50 states, because every voter, in every state, will be politically relevant in every presidential election,
  • increase voter turnout, and
  • help ensure the peaceful transfer of power in presidential elections.

HOW NATIONAL POPULAR VOTE WORKS
The winner-take-all method of awarding electoral votes is not in the U.S. Constitution and was never mentioned at the 1787 Constitutional Convention or in the Federalist Papers.

The Constitution gives the states exclusive control over the choice of method of awarding their electoral votes—thereby giving the states a built-in way to reform the system.  Specifically, Article II, section 1 says, “Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors….”

A state's winner-take-all law may be changed in the same manner as it was originally enacted, namely by passage of a state law.

The National Popular Vote law will take effect when enacted by states with a majority of the electoral votes (270 of 538). Then, the presidential candidate receiving the most popular votes in all 50 states and DC will get all the electoral votes from all of the enacting states. That is, the candidate receiving the most popular votes nationwide will be guaranteed enough electoral votes to become President.

Under the National Popular Vote law, no voter will have their vote cancelled out at the state-level because their choice differed from majority sentiment in their state. Instead, every voter’s vote will be added directly into the national count for the candidate of their choice. This will ensure that every voter, in every state, will be politically relevant in every presidential election—regardless of where they live.

STATUS OF NATIONAL POPULAR VOTE
Fifteen states and the District of Columbia (with 195 electoral votes) have already enacted the National Popular Vote Compact into law. This includes 4 small states (Delaware, Hawaii, Rhode Island, Vermont), 8 medium-sized states (Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington), 3 big states (California, Illinois, New York), and the District of Columbia.

The National Popular Vote Compact will take effect when passed by states with an additional 75 electoral votes. The Compact has passed one legislative chamber in 9 additional states with another 88 electoral votes (Arkansas, Arizona, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Nevada, Oklahoma, Virginia).

You can make National Popular Vote a reality. Please send emails to your state legislators.