Democrats’ Blue Wave Puts the Electoral College in Peril

The Electoral College is in serious trouble thanks to the midterm blue wave that not only swept Democrats into power in Congress but flipped many state governorships and legislatures.

Democrat dominance at the state level will have major national implications. One of the biggest could be that several state legislatures are far more likely to sign on to the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.

“Democrats have won control of the governorship and both legislative chambers in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin and Nevada, enough to push an agreement called the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact beyond the 270-vote threshold required to take effect,” Axios reported Wednesday.

The popular vote compact is essentially an agreement between states stipulating that they will tie their Electoral College votes to the national popular vote during presidential elections. The compact only kicks into effect once states with a total of 270 electoral votes—a bare majority to win the presidency—agree to it.

Unfortunately, threats to the Electoral College have been quietly—and I’d say ominously—lurking under, but very close to the surface.

My colleague, Fred Lucas, reported in October that the compact was just 48 electoral votes away from kicking in after Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed a bill bringing the commonwealth into the fold in April.

You can bet that incoming Democrats will follow her path if they can.

Now wait just a darn minute you may be saying to yourself. Didn’t they run on making things affordable and stopping data centers and that kind of stuff? Surely, Democrats aren’t looking to usher back in wildly unpopular social policies and reboot their efforts to fundamentally transform American government, are they?

They are.

A quick gander at left-leaning media today shows more than a little exuberance for obliterating the Electoral College—seen as impediment step toward securing the Left’s permanent power—once and for all.

Here’s Dave Cavell, who was once a top speechwriter for former Vice President Kamala Harris, practically jumping for joy at the prospect.

And here’s MSNOW host Chris Hayes telling Democrats to “think big” and bulldoze the Electoral College now that they have a chance.

That’s the tip of the iceberg among the Left’s chattering class.

Lower gas prices are nice, but what they really want is power to continue carrying out their political and social revolution. The way they see it, a national popular vote is one of the ways to keep the wheels of history rolling ever in their favor.

I don’t think that’s actually the case, but the destruction of the Electoral College would certainly be a terrible blow to the future of the United States regardless of who is in power.

Our state-based, electoral system designed for a vast, growing republic was an ingenious idea. It ensured that the only truly “national” elected office remained tethered to the federal system at the heart of the Founding Fathers’ efforts at maintaining a nation that would be strong, free, and united under the Constitution.

The Electoral College allows states great leeway in how they conduct their own votes. Most switched to popular, democratic elections by the mid-19th century.

But the all-important state-based character of presidential elections remained. And by giving every state at least two votes, representing two senators, it skewed ever so slightly to smaller states to allow them not to be plunged into total irrelevance by more populous ones, like California.

That means, in effect, presidents must appeal to voters in a vast array of states across the country with significant differences in character and interests. This cuts across partisan and ideological lines. Also, as we’ve seen time and again, the interests and partisan balances of states shift. Blue states become red states, red states become blue states, and often that shift happens specifically because of a particular presidential candidate.

The system has worked. It’s produced a remarkably stable method of electing presidents for centuries.

Obliterating it via compact wouldn’t just switch to a system of “pure” national democracy the founders never intended, it would create all kinds of negative, downstream effects too.

For instance, voter manipulation would only become that much more appealing to states that must still handle their own elections. States must accept the voting standards, or lack thereof, of the other states. There would be a massive incentive to inflate or depress vote totals to skew the national vote.

“What happens when a state certifies a genuinely fraudulent count? When participating states disagree about the national result? When a compact member refuses to comply?” X user “Max Nordau” asked rhetorically. “The compact addresses certification and withdrawal, but it provides no uniform voting standards, independent national election authority, or comprehensive mechanism for resolving these disputes. Its constitutionality is itself unresolved.”

Correct.

Now, I strongly believe that the National Popular Vote Compact is unconstitutional. It obliterates voting rights as the majority in any state could be flipped to match the popular vote.

The current Supreme Court would almost certainly see things that way. But there is no guarantee that the court we have now will be the one deciding the question. With Democrat dominance in Congress, and with their eye on the White House, it could change relatively soon and in ways we’ve never seen before.

Let’s hope it doesn’t, but there is unfortunately reason now to believe that the courts won’t be a backstop. That should be deeply concerning to Americans who still retain any interest in maintaining our constitutional system.

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