Nevada Democrats Pass Bill to Give Electoral Votes to Popular Vote Winner
Democratic-controlled state passes bill, now awaits signature from Democrat governor
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The Democratic stronghold of Nevada has passed a bill that will give electoral votes to the national popular vote winner during elections.
The bill has just passed the Democratic-controlled state Senate after already passing through the Dem-majority House, and now only requires a signature from Nevada's Democrat Governor Steve Sisolak.
If Gov. Sisolak signs the bill into law, his state will have moved the National Popular Vote campaign six votes closer to effectively nullifying the Electoral College as established in the U.S. Constitution.
The Nevada Senate passed AB 186 on Tuesday by a vote of 12-8.
A signature from Sisolak will add Nevada's six electoral votes to the 189 votes already pledged by 14 other states in the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.
The pact would "guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes across all 50 states and the District of Columbia."
If the pact is triggered, it would override the majority decision of voters in particular states.
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According to the Daily Wire, thus far, 14 states and one district have officially passed the measure, their collective electoral vote total currently at 189.
The compact requires a minimum of 270 total pledged electoral votes to go into effect.
Should Sisolak sign the bill, the total would edge up to 195 votes.
The 15 jurisdictions, which are predominantly blue, that have signed on thus far are: California (55), Colorado (9), Connecticut (7), Delaware (3), the District of Columbia (3), Hawaii (4), Illinois (20), Massachusetts (11), Maryland (10), New Jersey (14), New Mexico (5), New York (29), Rhode Island (4), Vermont (3), and Washington (12).
"The bill has passed one house in 9 additional states with 82 electoral votes (AR, AZ, ME, MI, MN, NC, NV, OK, OR), including a 40–16 vote in the Republican-controlled Arizona House and a 28–18 in Republican-controlled Oklahoma Senate, and been approved unanimously by committee votes in two additional Republican-controlled states with 26 electoral votes (GA, MO)," the National Popular Vote website explains.
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As CNN underscores suggestively, the Electoral College "clinched President Donald Trump the 2016 presidential victory despite Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton winning a popular-vote majority by nearly 3 million votes."
Among the high-profile Democrats pushing for the elimination of the Electoral College are presidential candidates, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (MA), Sen. Kamala Harris (CA), and former Rep. Beto O'Rourke (TX), CNN notes.
Including Trump's victory over Clinton, there have been a total of "five instances where a presidential candidate has been elected without winning the popular vote since the Electoral College was created in 1787," The Hill reports.
In a video for PragerU (below), Electoral College expert Tara Ross explains the rationale behind the current U.S. presidential voting system and summarizes some of the arguments against the National Popular Vote agreement, including the impact of states' widely varying voting policies, the exponentially increased threat of voter fraud, and the encouragement of presidential candidates neglecting the needs and concerns of rural areas and smaller states.
"If NPV is adopted, and winning is only about getting the most votes, a candidate might concentrate all of his efforts in the biggest cities or the biggest states," Ross argues.
"We could see the end of presidential candidates who care about the needs and concerns of people in smaller states or outside of big cities."
