I hadn't heard about this. Anyone been following it?
quote:
The Democratic-led Virginia House of Delegates has passed legislation that seeks to award the state’s electoral votes to the presidential candidate that wins the national popular vote in an election.
The measure, also known as House Bill 177, passed the legislative chamber in a 51-46 vote on Tuesday after clearing the body’s Privileges and Elections Committee in a vote last week.
If the legislation is passed by the Senate, where Democrats also hold control, and signed into law by the governor, Virginia would subsequently be entered into the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.
“Under the compact, Virginia agrees to award its electoral votes to the presidential ticket that receives the most popular votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia,” a bill summary states. “The compact goes into effect when states cumulatively possessing a majority of the electoral votes have joined the compact.”
“A state may withdraw from the compact; however, a withdrawal occurring within six months of the end of a President's term shall not become effective until a President or Vice President has qualified to serve the next term,” the summary continues.
So far, only 15 states and Washington, D.C., have entered the compact, according to National Popular Vote, a nonprofit group tracking the status of states on the issue. A group of states possessing 74 electoral votes would need to join the agreement in order for the compact to take effect.
Originally posted by Mikhailoh: Saw that. I think it will be declared unconstitutional but we will see.
I think it's a great idea, but I also fear that it would be declared unconstitutional (even though the Constitution allows the states to apportion electors as they see fit).
VA is a bit like Ohio in that red or blue depends on where you are. Northeast is blue, most of the rest is pretty red. In VA, the DC area is blue, otherwise pretty red.
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Originally posted by Mikhailoh: VA is a bit like Ohio in that red or blue depends on where you are. Northeast is blue, most of the rest is pretty red. In VA, the DC area is blue, otherwise pretty red.
Largely, not entirely, true. The 2016 Presidential election map:
That tends to be true for many states, at least in the midwest and west-- the population centers tend to be blue, while the outlying rural areas tend to be red.
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Which makes it a question as to how urbanized the state is. VA turned blue in 2008. NC went from reliably red to purple. When (not if) Texas turns purple that will upend the status quo.
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Posts: 33811 | Location: On the Hudson | Registered: 20 April 2005
