Basically, they passed a law that all the state’s electoral votes must be cast for whomever wins the national popular vote. But it will only take effect when states representing over half the total electoral votes pass similar measures.
It looks to me like it is a no-amendment method to convert our presidential election to a pure popular vote. If every state joins in, the entire college would end up voting for one candidate.
Does anyone know if this idea has gotten any movement in other states? Anyone have opinions on the idea?
I think it’s not a bad idea, except that low-population states are unlikely to join in, and some states could keep joining in and opting out repeatedly after some elections don’t go their way.
Current signatories are California, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.
The biggest problem I see is, what happens if the vote is extremely close nationally (say within 1000 votes), but not in any of the states. Would there be a way to even have a recount?