As documented in Impact on Issues 2022-2024 (pages 49-51), the LWV has a long history with election of the president by popular vote starting in 1970. In 2010, the League adopted a concurrence to support National Popular Vote until Electoral College is eliminated. The 2018 national convention voted to add National Popular Vote to Making Democracy Work, and the 2022 national convention voted to make a new category in Making Democracy Work: Direct Election of the President (including both abolition of the Electoral College by Constitutional Amendment and National Popular Vote).  

In 2024, the League announced its One Person/One Vote campaign. 

“The One Person One Vote campaign aims to educate, engage, and activate the American people.”

To achieve a new system for electing future presidents by direct popular vote, we must use a multi-pronged approach to:

• Educate, engage, and activate communities to support a constitutional amendment to abolish the Electoral College; 
• Inform voters on how the Electoral Count Reform Act (ERCA) will impact the 2024 elections; and
• Pass the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact by 2028.

One Person One Vote will move our nation beyond the archaic Electoral College and toward true representation – a democracy powered by the people, for the people.

The LWVNC Election of the President by Popular Vote was also established in 2024. The goals of the group include:

• Identifying a representative from every local League; currently there are representatives for Asheville-Buncombe, Catawba Valley, Charlotte-Mecklenburg, Dare, Granville, Lower Cape Fear, Moore, Northeastern NC, Orange/Durham/Chatham, Piedmont Triad, and Wake.
• Encouraging local Leagues to for an action team or committee focused on this effort.
• Education League members and the public about the problems with the Electoral College and the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact as an interim measure and proof of concept through presentations, social media, letters to the editor, opinion pieces, and other means.
• Encouraging the North Carolina General Assembly to adopt the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.

Resources

• The One Person One Vote Toolkit that includes blog posts, sample social media posts, graphics, and talking points. 
• The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact website has a wealth of information including answers to myths, suggestions for letters to the editor, videos, and an easy way to contact legislators.  
• Oct. 2024 Asheville Citizen Times Opinion piece
• Sept. 2024 Asheville Citizen Times Opinion piece
• March 2023 Asheville Citizen Times Opinion piece
• Suggested reading Let the People Pick by President: The Case for Abolishing the Electoral College by Jesse Wegman
  
• Videos
  • Interview with Jesse Wegman
  • Interview with Michael Steele
  • Electoral College 101 with Mo Rocca (note this is from 2016) 
  • Is America Ready to Bid the Electoral College Farewell (Daily Show 2024)
    
• Elevator Pitch: The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is a constitutionally conservative, state-based, nonpartisan approach begun in 2006 that retains the Electoral College and the power of the states to control how the President is elected. The compact will go into effect when states representing 270 electoral votes join via legislation. The compact will make every person’s vote equal throughout the United States and ensure that every vote, in every state, will be politically relevant in every presidential election.  
  
• Quick Pitch: Add up all the votes, treat every vote equally, most votes wins: simple, fair and the way every other election is held. 

Questions? Contact suzanne2001 [at] gmail.com (Suzanne Fisher).