Drafted in the year 2006, yet not passed in a majority of states, the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is an agreement made between some U.S. states and the District of Columbia. The agreement is that participating states will award all their electoral votes to the presidential candidate who wins the popular vote in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact will be in effect when it has been passed by states having 270 or more electoral votes (a majority of 538 possible electoral votes). This is an agreement among states which preserves the Electoral College. No Constitutional amendment is needed.

How will the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact work?

The candidate who wins at least 270 of the total 538 electoral votes wins the presidential election. Each state in the nation has the right to decide the process for selection of presidential electors. The states have given their electoral votes to the candidate who has won the popular vote in that individual state. This is the “winner take all” system on a state by state basis.

Some presidential candidates who won the popular vote lost the Electoral College and the presidential election. With the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact in force, it will guarantee that the candidate who gets the most popular votes from the public in all 50 states and the District Of Columbia wins in the Electoral College. Thus he or she will be awarded the presidency of the United States.

Hurdles to enacting the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.

The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact guarantees that the candidate who wins the popular vote nationally and the candidate who wins the Electoral College will be the same person, making presidential elections completely democratic. This bill has been passed by 15 states and the District Of Columbia possessing 196 electoral votes, or 72% of the 270 electoral votes needed to have this bill go into effect on a nationwide basis in a presidential election. It has to pass in states having 74 more electoral votes in order to be effective.