The Electoral College and the National Popular Vote
Charles Young of Umpqua Community College, professor of history and government, spoke last night, 4/18/17, at the (soon-to-close) Douglas County Library in Roseburg, Oregon. He spoke eloquently about the formation of our early government and the Electoral College. The founding fathers were careful and thoughtful about including all of the states, large and small, while developing our constitution which led to the inclusion of the Electoral College.
We would like to share photos from last night’s presentation and discussion on the Electoral College and how we elect our nation’s presidents. Thank you to all who attended. Please visit our new webpage dedicated to the National Popular Vote webpage, which the League of Women Voters supports.
You probably know that it takes 270 electoral votes for a presidential win. But why that number, 270? If you add up all of the Senators (100) and all of the House of Representatives members (435) and the Washington, DC, representatives (3), the total is 538. Divided in half equals 269, therefore the number needed to win the election is 270. And there was much more about the country’s constitution, and how and why it was set up that way 230 years ago in 1787.
A current subject related to national elections, the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, was also discussed, which is a proposal that would go around the constitution by states voting to instruct their electoral college voters to vote for the person who wins the national popular vote. Right now 11 states with 165 electoral votes have passed NPV, and the Oregon House has passed it in May 2015 for the third time, also failing in the Senate three times.
League of Women Voters of the Umpqua Valley 