Another piece of legislation, SB 37 sponsored by Sen. Carole Midgen (D-San Francisco), is on our radar. Influenced by National Popular Vote, a nonprofit organization based in Silicon Valley, the bill seeks to “ratify a specified interstate compact that requires the chief election official of each signatory state to appoint the slate of presidential electors that was nominated in association with the presidential ticket that received the largest national popular vote total.”
What does that mean?
Well, right now, the President (and Vice President ) is elected to office after receiving the majority electoral vote rather than the majority popular vote. Because of this, the candidate with the most popular votes doesn’t necessarily win the election. Not convinced? Read up on Former Vice President Al Gore and Sen. Hillary Clinton.
This new bill, if approved and signed, would create a detour around the electoral college and instead award the electoral votes entirely to the winner of the majority vote nationwide. So, if Candidate A wins the majority vote in California but Candidate B wins overall nationally, all 55 electoral votes from California would be awarded to Candidate B.
So far, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, and New Jersey have passed this legislation.
For a more detailed look at SB 37, click here.
Update: We felt it would be important to call attention to a very important piece of the bill — this legislation, even if approved and signed, would only go into effect if the total number of states who have passed this legislation control a total of more than half of the total number of electoral votes nationwide. Additionally, it should be noted that the individual Californian votes would go towards the total majority vote for the nation. If we have 12 individual votes, and 6 vote for Candidate A and 6 vote for Candidate B, one candidate doesn’t necessarily win the group. But if the majority of the nation votes for Candidate A, then those electoral vote goes to Candidate A.
Check out this article by the L.A. Times for more info in addition to checking out the link to SB 37 above.
