Popular vote.

[orathaic]

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-e ... e-n1247159

One more state joining the National Popular Vote Compact. Will this end the electoral college (without a constitutional amendment)?

[flash2015]

No, unfortunately.

[Matticus13]

If enough states agree to award electors based on national popular vote and bind electors to vote as instructed, it would have essentially the same effect.

There is a chance that the compact get declared unconstitutional once it reaches the 270 vote threshold. Republicans would no doubt challenge this in court, and the US Constitution bans interstate compacts without Congressional approval.

The workaround is easy enough. Every state who agreed to the compact independently passes legislation that awards state electors based on popular vote without a compact.

[flash2015]

In theory it sounds nice...but in practice it won't work. You won't be able to get to 270. Democrats need the Senate, House and Governor in a particular state to pass this...outside of some core Democratic states, that doesn't happen very often.

[orathaic]

Flash, how many votes does it already have? I think one advantage is that they cam work on them one at a time. Last I checked they were more than 70% of the way there... (maybe the last 10% will be the hardest).

@Mattticus, I suspect the courts will deem it legal. Individual states are explicitly allowed determine how they select their electors (as Maine and the other one demonstrate with their weirdness). It could be picked by the Governor and still be constitutional...

That said, I didn't know about rules regarding interstate compacts...

[Matticus13]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationa ... te_Compact

^ 196 electoral votes currently. States with another 60 votes have legislation currently pending approval/denial.

[Matticus13]

Flash, how many votes does it already have? I think one advantage is that they cam work on them one at a time. Last I checked they were more than 70% of the way there... (maybe the last 10% will be the hardest).

@Mattticus, I suspect the courts will deem it legal. Individual states are explicitly allowed determine how they select their electors (as Maine and the other one demonstrate with their weirdness). It could be picked by the Governor and still be constitutional...

That said, I didn't know about rules regarding interstate compacts...

US Congress has to approve interstate compacts or they are essentially void. Federal law trumps agreements between states.