The following is a press release from Making Every Vote Count Foundation, a “501(c)(3) nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to increasing citizen awareness of problems with the existing Presidential selection system”. Take a look:
As American voters look toward the 2018 midterm elections, the Making Every Vote Count Foundation (MEVCF) released a video today showing why the U.S. would be better served if the person who wins the most popular votes nationwide becomes President.
“The American people disagree about many aspects of public life. However, they do actually agree on one problem: how we elect the President,” Reed Hundt, former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission and co-founder of Making Every Vote Count, said.
Hundt cited polls that have consistently shown that an overwhelming majority of Americans wants to elect the President by popular vote.
“The Presidential election system is far more damaging than many realize,” he added, “and is becoming more so, but there is a better way, and now is the time to be talking about it and doing something about it.”
A non-partisan nationwide movement is currently underway in support of enacting a national popular vote. That movement is gaining momentum in Connecticut, where a joint committee last month approved House Bill 5421 (HB 5421), which would adopt The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (the Compact).
The Compact, which goes into effect when states representing 270 electoral votes approve it, would change the election system for President to popular vote. So far 10 states and the District of Columbia, with a total of 165 electoral votes, have approved the Compact.
The Connecticut bill now moves to the House floor for consideration.
Oregon is currently considering legislation that would enact a national popular vote as well.
This should please American voters, who overwhelmingly support the national popular vote, according to a poll commissioned by MEVCF earlier this year. The survey of approx. 800 Americans found that 72% of eligible voters nationwide support using the national popular vote to choose the president, including 95% of Democrats, 62% of independents and 55% of Republicans.
That same poll found that 79% of eligible voters nationwide agree that Russia interfered in the 2016 election and 70% agree that the current system makes it easier for Russia and other bad actors to manipulate our presidential election.
“The vulnerabilities that exist when too few voters play too big a role in selecting the president are just one of the many problems that can and must be fixed,” said Hundt.
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