National Popular Vote on NJ governor’s desk

This excerpt from New Jersey’s Gannett desk says it all:

On the same day the presidential race kicked off with the Iowa caucuses, the state Senate gave final legislative approval to adding New Jersey to an interstate compact to skirt the Electoral College by requiring the state’s electors to cast their vote for president and vice president based on the national popular vote winner.

The compact might never take effect, and electors chosen this year will still back the winner in New Jersey.

The legislation, passed 21-12, in effect circumvents the Constitution without an amendment by changing the way presidents are elected. The bill, passed by the Assembly in December, now heads to Gov. Jon S. Corzine, who is expected to sign it.

Well, almost. Sadly the belief is that NPV somehow “circumvents” a constitutional provision that elections be held state-by-state on an at-large, plurality basis. No such provision exists. The framers left open the question of how to elect a president for want of compromise on any manner of (s)election:

The Founding Fathers gave the states exclusive and plenary control over the manner of awarding of their electoral votes. The winner-take-all rule is not in the U.S. Constitution. It was used by only 3 states in the nation’s first presidential election. Maine (since 1969) and Nebraska (since 1992) award electoral votes by congressional districts—another reminder that a federal constitutional amendment is not required to change the way the President is elected.

If Corzine signs, the compact will be 15 electors closer to implementation – not likely to be in effect this year, but a possibility for 2012.

NJ Assembly passes National Popular Vote

New Jersey’s lower house has passed the National Popular Vote plan:

The Assembly voted 43-32 on Thursday to approve legislation delivering the state’s 15 electoral votes for president to the winner of the national popular vote, although the measure could result in the electoral votes going to a candidate opposed by Garden State voters.

The apparent warning reminds me how much this discussion is mired in a state-by-state paradigm. No other consolidated, presidential democracy uses an electoral college, and our government certainly would not set one up in any autocracy it overthrew.

Though some congressional districts near New York City have gotten gradually more Republican-leaning since 2000, there’s little chance New Jersey would see its electors go to a Republican candidate any time soon. That would require seismic movements in the major parties’ coalitions.

One letter writer implores voters to “listen to and respect the wisdom of the founding fathers” who intentionally designed the system to protect small states and check mob rule. Yet another reminder of how misinformed the debate is.

The electoral college was a last-minute compromise in the spirit of keeping perfect’s hands off the good. In the final days of the convention, delegates could not agree on how to elect a president – whether one should be elected at all, in fact – so they threw the matter to the individual states.

The electoral college moreover does not protect small states, depending on the observer’s time horizon. It protects “battleground” states like Wisconsin, Florida and Ohio. Everyone else doesn’t matter.

According to BAN, the state senate votes on the bill on Monday.