With Democrats taking trifectas in state governments they have not held for a long time, DSA can campaign to get rid of a deeply undemocratic feature of our political life: the Electoral College.
The newly blue state governments mean we can functionally end the Electoral College through the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC). At a moment where a Democratic Congress is likely to be more focused on oversight than on legislating, DSA could accomplish something meaningful and powerful that actually inches our country toward democracy.
What Is the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact?
The Electoral College is a wholly undemocratic way to elect the most powerful individuals in the world. Candidates for President and Vice President are not elected by the people but by “electors” selected by states. Notably, the method of selection of electors is left up to the states themselves. Most use winner-take-all; the total state popular vote elects one slate of electors pledged to the winning candidate. Voters for the losing side essentially do not count. Only Maine and Nebraska choose electors on a congressional-district-by-congressional-district basis (which is still undemocratic), with the statewide vote determining their final two electors.
The undemocratic impact of the Electoral College has been felt since the founding, but in recent decades its effects have been pronounced, helping Republicans secure control of the executive branch. Four presidents have been elected by the Electoral College while losing the popular vote, two of them in this century. George W. Bush lost the popular vote in 2000 but took the White House. Hillary Clinton defeated Donald Trump by nearly 3 million votes in 2016; without the Electoral College, Trump would have been rendered a historical curiosity.
Fortunately, there’s a vehicle we can use to scrap the Electoral College, in effect: the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.
Proposed in 2006 by a former elector, the NPVIC is a binding agreement among the states that sign on. Legislatures can pass a bill directing their state to join the Compact, and the governor signs it.
States that sign on agree that, once states representing an absolute majority of electors have joined, they will all change the way they choose their electors. At their ceremonial post-election voting in their state capitals, they will ratify a slate of electors pledged to the candidate who won the largest popular vote across all 50 states and D.C.
In this way, while the Electoral College would formally remain in place, its distorting effects would be eliminated, and the winner of the popular vote would become the President.
The Opportunity
As of now, states representing 222 electoral votes have ratified the Compact (Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Illinois, Minnesota, Colorado, New Mexico, Washington, Oregon, California, and the District of Columbia). To take effect, the Compact needs to be ratified by states with a total of 270 electoral votes. Efforts to pass the Compact in more states have historically run into opposition from Republicans.
But as of this election, there are now Democratic trifectas in five new states that have not yet ratified the Compact: Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada, and (likely at time of writing) Arizona. Those five states have 61 electoral votes between them, more than enough to trigger the Compact. Those states include some of DSA’s strongest chapters, as well as several DSA-endorsed state legislators.
Over the next nine to twelve months, DSA should campaign nationally to get these states to pass the Compact. We would be organizing around a broadly popular demand. Our chapters in key states could pressure governors and legislative leaders. Our SIOs in those legislatures could lead on passage. At the same time, chapters could develop political education that connects this particular demand with DSA’s Workers Deserve More demands for real democracy.
Functionally ending the Electoral College would be a massive structural change in our political system towards democracy, and something we can win even while Donald Trump remains President. If DSA takes a lead on this fight and wins, we can show working class people energized by the midterm repudiation of Trump, who are likely to be disappointed by meek Democratic Party leaders, that real victories can be accomplished — if we win through popular agitation and organizing. The campaign will also help us deepen our power and organization in five states that are vitally important in electoral and other work, especially with an eye on 2028.
We are already starting to see some in the progressive movement encourage the new trifectas to take up the Compact. DSA, though, has some advantages in taking the lead that those non-socialist forces lack. Our newly elected Pennsylvania Congressman Chris Rabb led on passing the Compact as a state legislator in Harrisburg, introducing the legislation and conducting hearings on it last year. DSA state Representative Dylan Wegela cosponsored legislation in Michigan to sign onto the Compact earlier this year. DSA legislators in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin are all well-positioned to push the necessary legislation. Most important, our thousands of member-organizers mean that DSA can coordinate a national campaign with specific local targets.
We have a rare opportunity to notch an early, major win in this new political moment. It will require us to act quickly before other issues begin to feel more pressing. By eliminating the Electoral College as a barrier to democracy, we can strengthen DSA and show that workers truly deserve more.
