# How much could someone win the popular vote by and still lose the US presidency? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 11, 2020, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-could-someone-win-the-popular-vote-by-and-still-lose-the-us-presidency/853571 "2020-05-11T07:56:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-could-someone-win-the-popular-vote-by-and-still-lose-the-us-presidency/853571/41 "2020-05-13T04:40:20Z")
It’s interesting that in November 2016 the upmost concern in the Colorado government was that all electors vote for Clinton because that’s who Coloradans voted for. It was tantamount that Coloradan vote be respected. By March 2019 Colorado joined the Popular Vote Compact so I guess it doesn’t really matter who Colorado votes for. Fucking hypocrites. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-could-someone-win-the-popular-vote-by-and-still-lose-the-us-presidency/853571/42 "2020-05-13T06:12:49Z")
> [@Manlob](#): > > Why not allow the faithless electors scenario if trying to find the most extreme case? Because faithless electors can render the popular vote totally irrelevant. Consider the scenario where a supervillain, who does get a single popular vote, bribes, blackmails, hypnotizes, or otherwise coerces 270 electors to vote for him/her. What are you going to do then, superhero? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-could-someone-win-the-popular-vote-by-and-still-lose-the-us-presidency/853571/43 "2020-05-13T06:28:41Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Yes, they could change the law. But they can’t change it retroactively. I believe they can. This isn’t penal law. There are no due process or takings implications. There’s not even liability. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-could-someone-win-the-popular-vote-by-and-still-lose-the-us-presidency/853571/44 "2020-05-13T07:43:56Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Yes, they could change the law. But they can’t change it retroactively. The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is not just a bundle of unilateral state laws; it is also an interstate compact, i.e. a contractual arrangement between states, which states have implemented into their laws by means of state legislation. But in addition to that legislation, the compact continues to exist as is binding upon the states that are a party to it. One of the main questions about the NPVIC is whether it requires congressional consent; the Constitution says intersatte compacts require such consent (Article I, Section 10, Clause 3), but the Supreme Court interprets that provision restrictively and holds that compacts do not require congressional consent if they do not interfere with federal powers. Whether that is the case for the NPVIC issubject to debate; some say it does because it affects the outcome of the presidential election, others say it doesn’t because the method for allocating electors is left by the Constitution to the states. Either way, once the compact has been validly concluded it is legally binding on the states party to it. They can quit, but subject to six months’ notice. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-could-someone-win-the-popular-vote-by-and-still-lose-the-us-presidency/853571/45 "2020-05-13T13:28:13Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **Saint Cad** : > > It’s interesting that in November 2016 the upmost concern in the Colorado government was that all electors vote for Clinton because that’s who Coloradans voted for. It was tantamount that Coloradan vote be respected. By March 2019 Colorado joined the Popular Vote Compact so I guess it doesn’t really matter who Colorado votes for. Fucking hypocrites. No, it would still matter who Coloradans vote for, just like it would matter who everyone in the nation votes for. It’s the same set of principles that apply in both cases. Holding consistent principles is the opposite of hypocrisy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-could-someone-win-the-popular-vote-by-and-still-lose-the-us-presidency/853571.md?page=2)