Note: I’ve stuck this post from last year to the top since it provides a good overview of what Save Our States is all about. -TE The Electoral College was one of the least controversial provisions of the original Constitution. The state-by-state way we elect the President of the United States gives each state a number of Electoral Votes equal to the sum of their U.S. Representatives and Senators...
Read more »
Surely Governor Bobby Jindal hopes the answer to that question is “no.” Such a scenario is at odds with the reputation that he strives to maintain as a solid conservative. Unfortunately for him, the Louisiana legislature may not cooperate. Many of its members seem intent on eliminating the Electoral College—an institution designed to protect small states exactly like Louisiana. In a surprise move last week, Louisiana’s Committee on House...
Read more »
Rhode Island used to be known for its independence and spunk. It was the first American colony to renounce its allegiance to the British Crown. It refused to send delegates the Constitutional Convention and (stubborn to the end!) did not ratify the U.S. Constitution until after George Washington had already been elected and sworn in as the country’s first President. Perhaps fittingly, the colony that many early Americans called...
Read more »
In presidential elections, the big state of Alaska is a small state. It has only three electoral votes. In a country of 311 million people, it has a mere 722,000. Worse, it can be hard for presidential candidates to get to Alaska, given its distance from the 48 contiguous states. Alaska needs every advantage it can get during presidential elections, which makes it all the more puzzling that at...
Read more »
Alaska’s legislature has been in session for less than two weeks, but apparently some state Senators were already itching to jump into action on the National Popular Vote issue. The Senate Finance committee heard the matter in a hearing this past Wednesday—about a week after the legislature convened. The legislation has been held, at least for now. Meanwhile, one Senator on the Finance Committee is losing confidence in the...
Read more »
Twice recently, The Heritage Foundation hosted events to discuss the National Popular Vote proposal–a plan that would eliminate the effects of the Electoral College while side-stepping the difficult process of constitutional amendment. I was honored to participate in the first panel, and even more honored that it was hosted by Edwin Meese III, the former Attorney General and Heritage’s Ronald Reagan Distinguished Fellow. Also on the panel was Heritage...
Read more »
Warning: satire ahead! (For the basics on what the National Popular Vote anti-Electoral College scheme is all about, check out this post.) -TE A new poll shows that Americans overwhelmingly prefer to scrap the World Series. A shocking 68% of Americans instead believe that Major League Baseball should rely upon “total runs scored” during the regular baseball season when deciding who should be crowned the MLB champion. This number...
Read more »
PoliticsPA.com reports that National Popular Vote has launched a new advertising campaign in Pennsylvania. NPV hopes to dampen enthusiasm for a proposal to award Pennsylvania’s electors by congressional district. Simultaneously, it hopes to draw attention to its own plan to award states’ electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote. A voice in the ad pretends to be an announcer at a baseball game: “It’s all tied...
Read more »
Readers of this blog will remember that the National Popular Vote campaign is striving to effectively eliminate the Electoral College by asking states to allocate their electors to the winner of the national popular vote, rather than the winner of state popular votes. Now, it looks like NPV’s long road to changing the Electoral College might encounter a sudden detour. Some Pennsylvania Republicans have proposed an alternative: a congressional...
Read more »
Pennsylvania Republicans want to change the state’s method of awarding presidential electors: Instead of a winner-take-all system, they propose to award electors based on congressional district. http://bit.ly/qp1z6S One of the great strengths of the current system is the great discretion given to state legislatures in picking a manner of elector allocation. If Pennsylvania legislators deem this method to be in their interest, then they should go for it. The...
Read more »