A campaign that began in California in 2006 has reached Richmond. It is a cynical attempt to remove a load-bearing pillar of our Constitution — the Electoral College. Bills passed by the House and Senate would add Virginia to the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. If states representing 270 or more electors sign on, then those states will choose presidential electors based not on the votes of their citizens, but on nationwide totals. If this occurs it will propel America into a kind of constitutional crisis unknown since the Civil War.
Seventeen “blue” states have joined the compact, for a total of 209 electoral votes. Virginia would add 13, but hopefully Gov. Abigail Spanberger will reject the radical risks of this unconstitutional scheme.
The NPV plan takes away representation from citizens in compact states. It requires that state governments ignore their own state’s voters and instead choose presidential electors based on someone’s tally of the nationwide vote. Think of it this way: There are 11 states with larger populations than Virginia. Each would have more power over Virginia’s presidential electors than voters here.
The NPV compact would divide Americans along an urban-rural fault line. There are more people in Los Angeles County than in each of 41 states, including Virginia. New York City has more people than 39 states. In 2016, former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton won only 487 counties and 20 states, while President Donald Trump won 2,626 counties and 30 states. The NPV compact is a big city power grab, an attempt to ensure that major metro areas decide every presidential election.
This is not so easy, however. Lost on NPV supporters is that there is no official national vote total. Compact does not create one. It also ignores the Constitution’s Compact Clause, which requires that state compacts receive approval by Congress. This is meant to prevent a handful of states from working against the interests of other states, our nation, or the Constitution. This compact violates all these principles yet claims to take effect without action by Congress.
Neither party should change election laws simply for its own advantage, yet NPV is deeply partisan. It was developed by three liberal law professors and is run and funded by a major Democratic donor. Every one of the 17 states that has joined is a reliably “blue” state.
While Democrats hope for a short-term advantage, the long-term outcome would be destruction of the American two-party system and the dangerous instability of multi-party politics.
The NPV compact would let candidates win with plurality support from major metropolitan areas, or a single urban coast. Billionaire candidates or campaigns financed by billionaires would spring up since victors might need only a small plurality.
The United States is about to celebrate its 250th birthday. Our Constitution has served us well for 236 of those years. Most nations have had multiple regimes, often with bloody revolutions in between, during that period. Our system is fair: Since 1908, Americans have elected 15 Republican and 15 Democratic presidents.
The Electoral College is an ingenious part of our system. It promotes a healthy balance between state and federal power, and between urban and rural interests. It secures our two-party system, protecting against regional candidates or those with only a small plurality of support. Every president since George Washington has been elected using the Electoral College. The NPV compact would throw all that away. Hopefully, Spanberger will follow her oath of office and defend both the Constitution and Virginia’s voters.
Michael C. Maibach of Alexandria is a distinguished fellow at Save Our States and a Trustee of the James Wilson Institute & the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal.
