The National Popular Vote law will guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
It will apply the one-person-one-vote principle to presidential elections, and make every vote equal.
Why a National Popular Vote for President Is Needed
The shortcomings of the current system stem from state-level “winner-take-all” laws that award all of a state’s electoral votes to the candidate receiving the most popular votes in that particular state.
Because of these state winner-take-all laws, five of our 47 Presidents have entered office without winning the most popular votes nationwide. The loser of the national popular vote would have become President but for about 119,000 votes in 2004, 43,000 in 2020, and 240,000 in 2024.
Because of winner-take-all, presidential candidates only pay attention to voters in closely divided battleground states. In 2024, 94% of the general-election campaign events took place in just seven states. That is, 43 states and 80% of U.S. voters were on the sidelines.
The winner-take-all method of awarding electoral votes repeatedly generates controversies over real or imagined irregularities and incentivizes hair-splitting litigation. A mere 537 popular votes in one state decided the national outcome in 2000. An average of only about 280,000 popular votes spread over one, two, or three closely divided states decided the last seven presidential elections. In contrast, the national-popular-vote lead averaged 4,327,902 votes over the last seven presidential elections.
Currently, every vote is not equal throughout the United States—for reasons including the formula for allocating electoral votes to the states, intra-decade population changes, and turnout differences that increase or decrease the value of a voter’s vote. Voters in the closely divided battleground states have an average of 200 times the weight of voters elsewhere in deciding the outcome.
Voter participation is 11% higher in closely divided battleground states than elsewhere.
How National Popular Vote Works
Winner-take-all is not in the U.S. Constitution. It was not mentioned at the Constitutional Convention.
Instead, the U.S. Constitution (Article II) gives the states exclusive control over the choice of method of awarding their electoral votes—thereby giving the states a built-in way to reform the system.
The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact will take effect when enacted by states with a majority of the electoral votes (270 of 538). The candidate receiving the most popular votes in all 50 states and DC will get all the electoral votes from the enacting states. This guarantees that the candidate receiving the most popular votes nationwide will get enough Electoral College votes to become President.
Under the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, no voter will have their vote cancelled out at the state-level because their choice differed from plurality sentiment in their state. Instead, every voter’s vote will be added directly—without distortion—into the national count for the candidate of their choice. This will ensure that every voter, in every state, will be politically relevant in every presidential election.
National Popular Vote has been enacted into law by 18 jurisdictions, including 6 small states (DC, DE, HI, ME, RI, VT), 9 medium-sized states (CO, CT, MD, MA, MN, NJ, NM, OR, WA), and 3 big states (CA, IL, NY). These jurisdictions have 209 of the 270 electoral votes needed to activate the law.
It has also passed in legislative chambers in 7 additional states with 74 electoral votes (AR, AZ, MI, NC, NV, OK, VA). Over 3,800 state legislators have sponsored or cast a recorded vote in favor of it.
More Information
Our book Every Vote Equal: A State-Based Plan for Electing the President by National Popular Vote can be read or downloaded for free at https://www.every-vote-equal.com. It contains answers to 175 myths about National Popular Vote.
12 battleground states in 2016 accounting for 94% of the campaign events (375 of 399)
Notes: (1) Trump percentage is of the two-party vote (2) Population is from 2010 census.
Only 2 of the 13 smallest states (with 3 or 4 electoral votes) received any of the 399 general-election campaign events. New Hampshire received 21 because it was a closely divided battleground state. Maine (which awards electoral votes by congressional district) received 3 campaign events because its 2nd congressional district was closely divided (and, indeed, Trump carried it). All the other states in this group were ignored.
Only 9 of the 25 smallest states (with 7 or fewer electoral votes) received any general-election campaign events. New Hampshire, Iowa, and Nevada received attention because they were closely divided battleground states. Maine and Nebraska (which award electoral votes by congressional district) received some attention since just one of their congressional districts was closely divided. New Mexico received some attention (from the Republican campaign only) because former New Mexico Governor Johnson was running for President and it appeared his strong home-state support might make the state competitive. Utah received some attention from Republicans because the McMullin candidacy might have made the state competitive. Connecticut and Mississippi also received one campaign event. All the other small states in this group were ignored.
39 spectator states in 2016 accounting for 6% of the campaign events (24 of 399)
Notes: (1) Trump percentage is of the two-party vote (2) Population is from 2010 census.