The League of Women Voters of the United States believes that the direct-popular-vote method for electing the President and Vice President is essential to representative government. The League of Women Voters believes, therefore, that the Electoral College should be abolished. We support the use of the National Popular Vote Compact as one acceptable way to achieve the goal of the direct popular vote for election of the president until the abolition of the Electoral College is accomplished.
The League of Women Voters of Bucks County supports Electoral College reform to make voting in presidential elections more fair, democratic, inclusive, and more representative of the US voting population. This is a nonpartisan issue as all citizens, regardless of political party, are adversely affected under the current system.
Why It Matters
The Electoral College (EC) does not reflect the will of the people. There have been five presidential elections where the winner in the EC did not win the popular vote. Two of these elections occurred in the last 22 years (Bush v. Gore in 2000, Trump v. Clinton in 2016).
The Electoral College also contributes to low voter turnout and voter apathy, which further erodes our democracy. On average, ten to fifteen states have very close races in presidential elections and are known as ‘battleground’ or ‘swing states’. In close national elections these states will determine the winner. Voters in non-battleground states know that their vote is “less important”, thus providing a disincentive to voting. As a result, 35-40 states have been shown to have lower voter turnouts than battleground states. The ‘winner take all’ method further contributes to lower voter turnout. In states where there is a significant majority of blue or red voters (such as California and Texas) the minority party is given no votes in the EC voting. Voters are in effect disenfranchised in these non-battleground states.
Abolishing the Electoral College would require a constitutional amendment. An alternative to abolishing the Electoral College is the National Popular Voting Interstate Compact (NPVIC). This compact is composed of states that agree to have presidential elections based on the national popular vote. The compact is based on the states’ electoral votes, and when this number reaches 270, the election will be calculated on the federal popular vote.
