Hello, I'm Tom Golisano. As the founder of an American company and as a concerned American, I'd like to take a moment to speak with you about a very important issue.
It's the way we elect our most important official. The President of the United States.
75% of voters polled in the United States think the way we elect our president should be changed. Are you surprised?
Under our current system a candidate can win the White House without receiving the majority of the votes nationwide. This has actually happened a number of times in our history.
And it is likely to happen again.
The current system awards all the state's electoral votes to the candidate who gets the most votes in that particular state. This is called the winner takes all rule. By the way this is not a part of the U.S. Constitution. This is strictly a matter of state laws that were adopted on a piece meal state by state basis.
Unfortunately this creates a problem where the candidate with the most votes can actually lose the election.
Would you call that democratic?
Evidently 75% of voting Americans think it is not democratic.
We can easily change to a system where the candidate with the most votes always wins. In fact the process is already underway. Once states representing a majority of electoral votes approve this, the process will change.
The president will be elected by the national popular vote.
You can make it happen. Together we can make this change.
In fact seven states have already approved this legislation. It's referred to as the National Popular Vote bill. We are already at 25% of the votes needed to approve the bill. The New York State Senate in 2010 voted 52 to 7 to go to the National Popular Vote. Republicans supported the change 22 to 5, Democrats 30 to 2.
Talk about non-partisanship!
If a majority of the states adopt this policy, the candidate with the most votes will always win.
There are some other very important reasons for this bill to be passed.
Have you noticed how the media categorizes our states into two groups: Battleground and fly over states.
A battleground state is a state where the vote for candidates is undecided — It could go either way. A fly over state is a state that is pre-determined for a candidate.
Unless you live in one of the few battleground states, your particular vote doesn't matter.
The presidential candidates don't need to consider your issues as they "fly over" your state on the way to the few states that swing presidential elections.
In 2008 candidates concentrated 98% of their ad money and visits to just 15 states — Again not very democratic.
To create a truly national presidential election, the National Popular Vote bill is winning support all across the country. The National Popular Vote bill has been endorsed by newspapers like the Boston Globe, Chicago Sun-Times, Los Angeles Times, Miami Herald, and the New York Times. And many others across the country.
It comes down to this. The bill is winning so much support because in a democracy the winner should win — Not the candidate that can game the system to get the most electoral votes.
In summary we have the option to guarantee that the choice of the American people wins the election. Every American's vote should count... Candidates will pay attention to the needs and concerns of all fifty states not just a few battleground states. And we are doing all of this while preserving the state's power in how we pick our president.
The president we choose represents this entire nation...
We should all count when making that choice. More importantly, this is the world's greatest democracy — Our presidential election should truly be democratic.
Please join me and 75% of Americans in supporting the national popular vote bill because it is the right thing to do.
Thank you for your time.
(video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atbE0ZvjIOo)
