MultDems Call to Action: Pass the National Popular Vote
Right now, March 2019, The Oregon State Senate has a key National Popular Vote (NPV) legislation bottled up in committee. If you believe in this issue Let them know you want the President decided by the popular vote, not the Electoral College
- Call your own state Representative and state Senator, particularly if your Senator is in leadership.
- You can also help by writing a letter to the editor
- Following us on Facebook
- Following us on Twitter
learn more at National Popular Vote web site which has 14 explanatory videos and answers to 131 myths about the bill.
MultDems Platform Supports the NPV
Under Article VI, Election Integrity and Legislative Accountability;
We stand for the principle of one person, one vote and believe every vote in every state should be counted equally in every election. We support the passage of the National Popular Vote in Oregon and across the nation.
https://multdems.org/resources/platform-of-the-party
Resolution in Support of HB2704 and SB870
On March 14, The Democratic Party of Multnomah County voted unanimously to support, as we did in 2017, the passage of NPV legislation here in Oregon. Download the resolution here to send to your legislators!
Multnomah County Democratic Central Committee Resolution: 2019-5 National Popular Vote
WHEREAS on five occasions the winner of the national popular vote for President of the United States did not become President, notably in 2016 and twice since 2000; and
WHEREAS the Electoral College violates the democratic principle of “one person, one vote,” giving unequal power to voters in different states such that it takes 3.2 times as many votes in California, the most populous state, to elect an elector as it does in Wyoming, the least populous state; and
WHEREAS shifting demographics make such mismatches between the popular vote and the electoral vote likely to happen with increasing frequency in the future; and
WHEREAS state’s winner-take-all laws result in “wasted” votes since any votes cast in excess of a simple majority in a state add nothing to the outcome and are therefore “wasted”; and
WHEREAS this effect is most profound in states that lean strongly toward one candidate; and
WHEREAS winner-take-all laws create “swing states,” in which small differences in voter preference can determine the election outcome for the entire country; and
WHEREAS due to their lopsided importance, swing states receive disproportionate numbers of candidate visits and vastly more campaign spending; and
WHEREAS because swing states are identified years in advance, political operatives have clear guidance on where to concentrate voter suppression efforts, voting machine hacking, and other types of election fraud; and
WHEREAS the current status quo within the Electoral College heightens a “red state/blue state” mentality, reinforcing an “us versus them” attitude and deepening perceived political divides; and
WHEREAS a majority of Americans support the idea that the winner of the national popular vote should be President; and
WHEREAS the Electoral College, as established in the U.S. Constitution would be difficult to repeal and replace with a popular national vote because a Constitutional Amendment requires ratification by ¾ of the state legislatures; and
WHEREAS an alternative that produces the same result is desirable; and
WHEREAS Article II of the U.S. Constitution assigns responsibility for selecting the method of choosing a state’s presidential electors explicitly to the State Legislature; and
WHEREAS In the entire history of the United States, every state winner-take-all statute, (and every other law, in every state, specifying the state’s method for choosing its presidential electors) has been enacted, amended, and repealed by action of the state legislature – not by initiative, referendum, or referral process.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT:
The Multnomah County Democratic Party supports the passage of HB 2704 and SB 870, which “Enacts Interstate Compact for Agreement Among the States to Elect the President by National Popular Vote” and directs their representatives in the Oregon Legislature to pass, and Governor Brown to sign, National Popular Vote legislation this session, with no amendment relating to referring this issue to the voters.
Note #1: The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact has been enacted into law in 11 states and the District of Columbia, representing 172 electoral votes (CA, CT, DC, HI, IL, MA, MD, NJ, NY, RI, VT and WA). Legislation has passed both chambers in Colorado and New Mexico in the past month and enactment is expected by their Governors. The addition of these states would bring the total electoral votes committed to the compact to 186. Oregon’s seven electoral votes would bring the total to 193.
Note #2: National Popular Vote legislation, identical to SB 870 and HB 2704, has passed the Oregon House of Representatives during the 2009, 2013, 2015 and 2017 legislative sessions.
Adopted on March 14, 2019.
