Youngstown Daily Legal News

Bill would add Ohio to states' national popular vote compact

KEITH ARNOLD
Special to the Legal News
Published: February 16, 2017

True democracy is what the organizers of the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact seek and, so far, they count 10 states and the District of Columbia among their signatories.

A pair of Democrat state lawmakers are hopeful Ohio will make it an even dozen.

Reps. Dan Ramos of Lorain and David Leland of Columbus last week introduced legislation that proposes Ohio join the group of states that pledge their entire Electoral College delegation to the winner of the national popular vote during the general election.

"On the weekend following the 2017 inauguration, with millions of people taking to the streets to protest the presidency of Donald Trump, we witnessed the largest outpouring of dissent this nation has ever seen," Leland said. "Part of the energy that fueled this protest was the belief that Trump was not a legitimately elected president because he lost the popular vote by a landslide - nearly 3 million votes.

"This legislation is not a re-litigation of the recent general election. Instead, it will change the way we elect future presidents, so that never again will someone be elected without winning the popular vote of the people."

The bill first was introduced in the weeks after Trump won the presidential election in November and days before the 131st General Assembly concluded its session.

House Bill 25 would deliver the state's results of the national popular election to the Electoral College, bypassing the need to amend the U.S. Constitution.

"This is a change that is long overdue," Ramos said. "Two-thirds of the presidents elected in my adult life will have been chosen by the Electoral College in their first term without receiving the majority vote.

"Our current framework does not respect the direct will of the people. This is patently undemocratic and undermines confidence in the people that we are truly a democracy."

During the 2016 general election, two-thirds of the presidential campaign events were in six states, the legislators argued. This legislation seeks to restore true democracy in America by ensuring the presidential candidate that receives the greatest total of votes is the candidate that ends up in the White House.

The compact's success thus far is the equivalent of 165 electoral votes. Its organizers said it goes into effect when enough states have joined and it reaches the equivalent of an electoral majority.

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