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Can the ‘blue wave’ wipe out the Electoral College?
Democrats’ sweeping statehouse gains Tuesday have opened a path to effectively replacing the Electoral College with a national popular vote in time for the 2028 presidential election — without needing to amend the Constitution.
The results could give Democrats the legislative power to fundamentally change how America picks its president, potentially ending the possibility of winning the White House while losing the national popular vote.
Democrats have won control of the governorship and both legislative chambers in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin and Nevada, enough to push an agreement called the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact beyond the 270-vote threshold required to take effect.
Caption from article by Andrew Pantazi, Axios.
Transcript
Tuesday's blue tsunami could also wipe out the electoral college, making the twenty twenty eight presidential election the first presidential election decided by popular vote. What? It's true, generic founding father. But we need the electoral college. It empowers states where enslavement is legal. Slavery is no longer legal. Oh, still, wouldn't this require a constitutional amendment? Not necessarily. Here's how it would work. Witchcraft. So there's something called the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. It was introduced back in 2006. In the future? It... It's 2026 now. Oh. In this compact, states still technically have electors that cast votes on behalf of the state. But instead of assigning those electors based on the results of their state, they assign it to whoever won the popular vote. I do not understand what you're saying no how your magical wall works. Okay. Let's look at the twenty sixteen election. 4,500,000 Texans voted for Trump, and almost 4,000,000 voted for Hillary Clinton. Okay. Go on. So all electoral votes in Texas went to Trump. Understood. But there was still a tally of the national popular vote. And in 2016, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote. Meaning that under this compact, Texas would have awarded all of its electoral votes to Hillary Clinton because she won the popular vote. So the electoral college would still technically exist, but this compact amongst several states would nullify exactly. In 18 states have agreed so far, only five more would need to agree, these five states. And if these states signed up, they would make up the majority of electoral votes. But what does this recent middle term blue ocean wave election have to do with it? Well, generally, Democrats are in favor of this compact. Why? Because Republicans would have lost in two thousand and twenty sixteen if the winner was decided by popular vote. The five states that could put this over the edge now have a Democratic governor and Democratic control of both legislative chambers. So these state legislators just have to vote for it. Yeah. But it's not a guarantee. When Democrats in Michigan had control, they still failed to pass it. And similarly, in 2019, the governor of Nevada vetoed it because he said it would diminish their state's influence in presidential elections. I guess you can't bet on Nevada. Oh, you're you're making a gambling joke because of of Las Vegas, the the betting. What are you talking about? Anyway, even if it does happen, some experts argue that it would still need congressional approval. But anything could happen. Nevada has a new Democratic governor. Viva Las Vegas. So you do know about Vegas? I have no earthly idea of what you speak of.
