The shortcomings of the current system of electing the President stem from existing state laws that award all of a state’s electoral votes to the presidential candidate who receives the most popular votes in the state.
- Five of our 47 Presidents came into office without winning the most popular votes nationwide.
- Voters in 43 states and 80% of American voters are ignored in the general-election campaign for President.
- The current state-by-state winner-take-all system regularly enables a few thousand votes in a small number of states to decide the Presidency—thereby fueling post-election controversies and threatening the country’s stability.
- Every vote is not equal throughout the United States under the current system.
- The current system could easily result in the U.S. House of Representatives choosing the President on a one-state-one-vote basis.
- Voter participation is lower in the spectator states than battleground states.
- Under the current system, an individual’s vote for President is not counted as a vote for the presidential candidate preferred by that voter.
The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact addresses all of these shortcomings of the current system.
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