Snark Attack!: National Popular Vote Bill

Only 9 swing states matter in this year's presidential election, and your state may not be one of them. Let’s put all 50 stars back onto the flag. A voter in Idaho should matter as much as a voter in a swing state such as New Hampshire, Nevada, Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania, or Florida.

The National Popular Vote bill would guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states. It makes everyone’s vote equally important. The National Popular Vote bill ensures that every voter, in every state, will matter in every presidential election.

Your action NOW can make the difference. Please take a moment to e-mail your legislators and officials to tell them to support the National Popular Vote bill. For your convenience, we provide a suggested letter (which you can edit).

Presidential campaigns ignore Idaho because electoral votes are currently awarded to the candidate who gets the most popular votes within each separate state. Candidates ignore states (like Idaho) where they are comfortably ahead or hopelessly behind.

In 1960, presidential campaigns paid attention to 35 states. In 2008, Obama campaigned in only 14 states after being nominated. In 2012, the presidential campaigns have been concentrating on just 9 swing states for the past five months.

The states have the constitutional authority to change the method of awarding electoral votes and thereby establish a national popular vote for President.

The National Popular Vote bill has already been enacted into law by Vermont, Washington state, Illinois, New Jersey, Maryland, California, Massachusetts, the District of Columbia, and Hawaii. In addition, the bill has passed at least one legislative house in an additional 12 states.

If you believe that a vote cast in your should count as much as a vote cast in a swing state, please take a moment to e-mail your legislators and officials to tell them to support the National Popular Vote bill when it comes up in the State legislature.

The National Popular Vote bill is endorsed by the League of Women Voters, Common Cause, FairVote, Sierra Club, Brennan Center for Justice, NAACP, National Black Caucus of State Legislators, ACLU, the National Latino Congreso, Asian American Action Fund, DEMOS, National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, Public Citizen, U.S. PIRG, and Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund.

The bill has been endorsed by newspapers such as the Hartford Courant, New York Times, Chicago Sun-Times, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Miami Herald, Boston Globe, Sacramento Bee, Daily Astorian, Kent County Times, The Columbian, Connecticut Post, Westport News, Fairfield Citizen News, Baxter Bulletin, Fayetteville Observer, and many more.

As the Sarasota Florida Herald Tribune said: "The most compelling and practical alternative is promoted by a bipartisan group called National Popular Vote. The NPV proposal calls for legislatures to pass bills committing their state's electoral votes to the candidate who receives the most popular votes nationwide; the bill would take effect only when enacted by states that together have enough electoral votes to elect a president."

So far, the National Popular Vote bill has been enacted by states possessing 132 electoral votes. This is about half of the 270 electoral votes needed to bring it into effect.

The current system has elected a second-place candidate in 4 of the nation’s 56 presidential elections. The National Popular Vote bill would guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

The National Popular Vote bill fixes the shortcomings of the current system of electing the President while preserving the Electoral College, preserving state control of elections, and leaving our Constitution unchanged.

Your action NOW can make the difference. Please take a moment to e-mail your legislators and officials to tell them to support the National Popular Vote bill.

Learn more at www.NationalPopularVote.com.

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