The framers of our Constitution established two houses of Congress. The House of Representatives, with 435 members, is elected based on population. The Senate represents each state with two Senators from each state for a total of 100 Senators.
In the Electoral College, each state is given a number of electors equal to the sum of their representatives and senators. The purpose was to provide broader support for the president from across the country. It was considered undesirable to have the president selected by one or a small number of heavily populated states that would control the election.
In a recent column, Robert Reich advocated for the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact as a means of defeating the purpose of the Electoral College in electing the president. When a state adopts the NPVIC, the state’s electoral votes will go to the presidential candidate receiving the highest total popular votes in all states, without regard to the results in that state. For example, candidate A wins in Ohio, but candidate B has more total votes in the U.S. Ohio’s electoral votes would go to candidate B in spite of Ohio voters selecting candidate A.
Democrats are still hurting from the election of Donald Trump in 2016. Hillary Clinton had a massive popular vote win in California, the big kahuna of electoral politics. Trump won the popular vote total of the other 49 states. Even though he received fewer total popular votes, Trump carried the most states, received the most electoral votes and became president.
I suspect Ohio citizens would never want other states, such as California, to void the votes of Ohio citizens. Furthermore, Democrats wishing for the NPVIC should be careful. People are leaving high-tax, high-crime Democratic states and moving to Republican states for a better quality of life. The NPVIC could be to their disadvantage in the future.
The framers of our Constitution were much wiser than Reich.
John Fielding
Elida
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