Voters in many states dream of the day when their vote for
president will count just as much as those of voters in the handful of
battleground states such as Florida and Ohio. Now, with the
closeness of
the 2008 presidential primary and the proportional delegate allocation
rules
that most state parties followed in the Democratic primaries, voters
are getting
a taste of what it would mean if every vote did matter – the
result being record-breaking
turnout numbers.
If every vote counted in the November presidential
elections, we could expect similar broad-based gains in voter
turnout. Voters are well aware of whether or not their
votes count, and this is evidenced in polls
that show wide, bi-partisan support of approximately 70% for a national
popular
vote.
Studies
emphasize that not only does the traditional Electoral College lead to
elections narrowly focusing on a few states, but that the problem is in
fact
getting worse. One
result is that
critical issues for non-swing states are given less focus in national
debate. An example
is the civil rights movement, where the historic shift away
from heavily
African-American swing states has paralleled the narrowing discussion
of civil
rights in campaigns and the national dialogue.
The
campaign to make every vote count in presidential general elections is
focused
on passing an interstate
compact where states agree to apportion their presidential
electors to the
winner of the national popular vote (NPV).
The compact will become effective when a majority of electors are
included under the agreement. The
movement to enact this compact is rapidly gaining steam in states
around the
country – Maryland, New Jersey, Hawaii, and Illinois have
enacted the compact
and it has passed 18 state legislative chambers.
