The scenario we see as the most alarming was made possible by the Supreme Court itself. In a 2020 decision, the court held, in our reading, that state legislatures have the power to direct electors on how to cast their electoral votes. And this opens the door to what we think is the most dangerous strategy: that a legislature would pass a law that directs electors to vote for the candidate the legislature picks.
We desperately need the national popular vote. 80% of the votes in the upcoming election may as well be ignored.
https://www.nationalpopularvote.com/
If we’re doing npv, can we go a step further to ranked choice please? Npv is better than EC but falls into the same two party pitfalls.
Agreed the EC is bunk and needs to go but NPV seems like a Swiss cheese solution that will never work.
Energies are better spent elsewhere for now.
Edit: Yes, it’s attractive in its simplicity, but here are two pitfalls that come to mind:
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Energies elsewhere including:
It seems like a simple premise to me. The candidate with the most votes wins. What am I missing?
I do agree that efforts are best made elsewhere at this time. Sadly, that case can probably always be made, which is why we may never have a properly functioning democracy.
I feel like “efforts can be best made elsewhere” needs to be qualified with where that is
It won’t happen before November, and a lot is on the line. We can always do more than one thing at a time, but it’s difficult to get anyone to do anything in the first place.
Change as you’re describing will never happen if Republicans control any part of governemnt. Change also won’t happen under Democrats unless it’s aligned with corporate interests, tho, Democrats are conciliatory to social change once protesting starts to damage profitability.
I wish I were wrong about that, but that’s the options we have. Authoritarian’s backed by Big Oil or the public punching bag to oligarchical authoritarianism. Progressives might be moving the platform but the likelihood of public interest resulting in the passing of law is still statistically null, which has been quantifiably proven multiple times over the past 30 years.
We are free to spend our money on the things that keep us productive workers and that’s it. In my eyes that’s just slavery with more steps.
3rd party candidates still don’t have a chance because they “can’t get the votes” Ranked choice is basically npv, but I can have my first choice be the person I don’t think will have enough, then fall back to the big parties as necessary.
Yes, it’s attractive in its simplicity, but here are two pitfalls that come to mind:
NPV seems a bit convoluted, but it is the only way to make the Electoral College irrelevant without a change to the Constitution. And our politicians can’t decide on a budget, they will never decide on an amendment in this political environment.