PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: 2/14/2019
Sender: Jane Lord
Contact: 302-827-2299 or sussexlwv [at] gmail.com
Title: Public Forum on Electing the U.S. President by Popular Vote
A bipartisan panel will present a town hall meeting on the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC) on Sunday, March 3, 2:00-4:00 pm, in County Council Chambers, #2 The Circle, Georgetown.
State Senators Bryan Townsend and Anthony DelCollo, along with Senior Consultant to the NPVIC and former Chair of the Michigan Republican Party Saul Anuzis, will explain how the Interstate Compact can use the Electoral College system to assure that the presidential candidate who wins the popular vote will, indeed, be elected to office.
State Senator Townsend, a Democrat representing District 11, and Senator Delcollo a Republican representing District 7 are spearheading this non-partisan approach to make Delaware voters regardless of party relevant again. Saul Anuzis has lectured and answered questions across the country on the topic from the Founders of the Constitution through the modern era. . The League of Women Voters of Sussex County, Common Cause, and the ACLU are hosting the forum.
“This is truly a bipartisan issue,” said LWVSC President Martha Redmond. “The League has long held the position that honoring the popular vote is essential to representative government, and now Republicans and Democrats are coming together to make sure that every American citizen’s vote counts.”
If you are a Republican voter in a blue state, or a Democratic voter in a red state, your vote essentially does not count. If you are a Republican voter in Delaware, your vote for president in recent elections has been, for all practical purposes, irrelevant. Proponents of the NPVIC contend that the problem with the Electoral College is that huge numbers of voters are essentially disenfranchised because of the winner-takes-all system, a discretionary rule made by state legislatures nearly a century ago. States that join the Popular Vote Compact agree that their electors to the Electoral College will selected by the winner of the popular vote nationwide. When states join the Compact with 270 or more electoral votes, a determinative number of electoral votes to be awarded the presidency, the candidate who wins the popular vote nationally will also be the winner of the election; thus, everyone’s vote will count equally, whether they live in a large or small state, a blue or a red one. Currently 12 states and the District of Columbia with 172 electoral votes, with Colorado and New Mexico poised to join soon, have joined the Compact.
Please register via Eventbrite at sussexlwv.org under events
This event will be livestreamed at sussexlwv.org under events
Go to sussexlwv.org for more information or to view the program live streamed via ZOOM.
