Oregon House of Representatives Passes National Popular Vote Bill

Oregon just might be the next state to join the National Popular Vote Bill Movement. For those not familiar, the Bill would

 “guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in the entire United States. The bill preserves the Electoral College, while ensuring that every vote in every state will matter in every presidential election.The National Popular Vote law has been enacted by states possessing 132 electoral votes — 49% of the 270 electoral votes needed to activate it.”

Such a program would eliminate the unfortunate trend that has been occurring in recent elections, that of ignoring the majority of states where the winner is seemingly known and focusing on only a handful of states such as Ohio and Florida during an election. This disparity leaves many states unless to the election, and thus untouched in the electoral process of advertising, and visits by candidates. Paul De Muniz, past Chief Justice for the Oregon Supreme Court says it perfectly:

“With the winner-take-all system currently in place, Oregon, along with 40 other states, was completely ignored in the 2012 presidential election. As noted, Oregon had zero campaign visits to Ohio′s 73. Florida had 40 visits, and Virginia had 36. The most important election in the world is focused on a few states where the outcome is not obvious, while the rest of the country is ignored.”

Ignoring states leaves many of our votes as meaningless, which could perhaps be the reason behind the declining voter rate in the United States. There are many other pros of this Bill discussed on the website’s FAQ section.

According to the website “The bill would take effect only when enacted by states possessing a majority of the electoral votes—that is, enough electoral votes to elect a President (270 of 538).” The Bill currently holds 132 for the states of Vermont, Maryland, Washington, Illinois, New Jersey, Massachusetts, California, Hawaii, and the District of Columbia. So, do you want your vote to count? I sure do.

Written By Georgianna Dolan-Reilly, LMSW
SJS Staff Writer