by Jeff Schaeper | June 7, 2023
The National Popular Vote Compact (NPV) was among a slew of bills voted out of the Michigan House Elections Committee on Tuesday, June 6. NPV, a 16-year-old effort to change the way we choose the President of the United States, will now head to the floor of the House. It is likely to pass, and the Governor appears to be waiting with pen in hand. If enacted into law, NPV will compromise states’ rights drown the voice of Michiganders in a pool of more populated areas.
The Democrat majority in Michigan’s Legislature appears determined to enact NPV, and all that may block NPV from passage is two votes in the Senate. Two Democrat senators do not want to see it come to a vote, but two Republicans are in favor.
Anything could happen.
Now is the time to educate your House and Senate representatives on the importance of opposing House Bill 4156. Tell them not to let the bill come to the floor for a vote.
If Michigan throws in its 15 electoral votes, the interstate scheme would have 220, or 81%, of the 270 votes it needs to take effect. The threat to our representative system of government is real.
Watch trailer:
Currently, Michigan awards all 15 of its electors to the presidential candidate who receives the state’s most votes. In contrast, NPV member states agree to appoint their presidential electors to the candidate who receives the most votes across the country. If Michigan joins and the NPV Compact goes into effect, Michigan's 15 presidential electors will be chosen to vote for the candidate who receives the most votes nationwide instead of the candidate that Michigan voters select.
On the auspices of instituting the “one-person, one-vote” principle,” HB 4156 would reduce Michigan’s standing as a state within the union of the United States of America. NPV would thereby silence Michiganders’ voices.
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To quote the An Electoral College Story above, "There is no Emancipation Proclamation without the Electoral College, because without the Electoral College, there is no Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States of America."
According to a May 30 article in The Federalist by Samuel Lair,
The strategy of big liberal dark money is to...achieve additional electoral reforms, protected from repeal by the state Constitution, solidifying a structural advantage for Democrats in the state’s legislature and congressional delegation.
NPV would be disastrous for Michigan in a number of ways.
First, it would violate the sovereignty of the individual states. At the time of the nation’s founding, the signatories of the U.S. Constitution knew that no state legislatures would sign their rights away in order to blend into a giant conglomeration. (See U.S. Constitution and The Federalist Papers.) Today, several large urban populations would drown out the voices of entire states, including Michigan.
The metropolitan area of Los Angeles alone has a population of 12.87 million, compared to Michigan’s population of just over 10 million.
Facts:
· The population of the state of Michigan is 10.05M (million)
o The population of Detroit metro is 4.365M
· The population of NYC metro area is 18.867M
· The population of LA metro area is 12.87M
Currently, presidential candidates pay attention to Michigan residents’ concerns and issues because Michigan is a battleground swing state. But if you were a candidate for president and NPV were in effect, efficiency would dictate that you concentrate on scooping up votes in large urban areas. Whose concerns are these candidates going to cater to? Certainly not lowly Michiganders, let alone residents in harder-to-reach rural areas.
Instead of a battleground state where presidential candidates focus their efforts, Michigan would become a backwater state, flyover country, as some politicians already refer to states in the Midwest.
Consider what would happen if the votes of any of the dry-desert southwestern states counted more than Michigan’s? What if officials from California, with its 54 electoral votes, pressured presidential candidates to support building water pipelines from the Great Lakes to slack their growing thirst?
Under NPV, despite a majority of Michigan voters casting their ballots for an anti-water-pipeline candidate, if a pro-pipeline candidate won the most votes nationwide, Michigan’s electors would be compelled to vote for a candidate who was working against Michigan’s best interests. Our voices would become a whisper in the wind.
Issues like protecting the Great Lakes, ensuring our state’s manufacturing competitiveness, the awarding of government contracts, federal funding—these areas and others could suffer.
What if more populous states run their elections poorly and allow noncitizens and deceased voters to allegedly vote? Michigan would be obligated to accept the so-called majority votes from states whose voting processes appear to be riddled with fraud.
More reasons to reject National Popular Vote:
Watch Trailer: An Electoral College Story
• NPV would give corrupt political machines new opportunities to manipulate presidential elections—today’s decentralized system makes shenanigans more difficult.
• NPV’s founder and funder, John Koza (a Californian who made his money patenting and lobbying for scratch-ticket lotteries) bragged to the New York Times that NPV is an “end run” around the Constitution.
• NPV violates the Constitution’s compact clause, which requires compacts between states to have the consent of Congress. “No State shall, without the Consent of Congress...enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State.” https://www.heritage.org/sites/default/files/2020-10/LM272.pdf
• NPV violates the basic purpose of the Electoral College, established in the U.S. Constitution, article II, section 1, andthe 12th Amendment, which is to give each state a distinct voice in presidential elections, limit the power of big population centers, and create political balance.
• The USA is a Constitutional Representative government, NOT a democracy. The Electoral College was created to provide a system of checks and balances, to limit the power of bigger states and cities. NPV would sacrifice the interests of the Michigan citizens for the interests of larger and more accessible populations. The founding fathers’ understanding of federalism has worked well for Michigan and for all the states of the Union for all of our history. HB 4156, if passed,would turn Michigan from a battleground state into a backwater state.
Stop NPV in its tracks
To prevent this diminishment of your vote, let your elected officials know that you want them to vote NO on NPV. Vote NO on HB 4156. Call them. Write them. Visit them.
Join Michigan Fair Elections (MFE) for updates on NPV and other matters that impact the ability for you to cast your vote in a fair and honest election.
Author Jeff Schaeper, a volunteer with Michigan Fair Elections, is a passionate patriot who is determined to make sure that the election irregularities he witnessed in 2020 never happen again. A recent retiree he is devoting his time to election integrity and his first grandchild.
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