Memo to candidates: We’re that state just up I-95 from NY.
As the 2012 campaign raced to a finish, presidential and vice-presidential candidates visited Ohio a whopping 73 times. They set foot in Connecticut exactly zero times. New Haven’s Board of Aldermen aims to change that in the future — and make the Nutmeg State more like a swing state.
The city’s lawmakers can’t force presidential candidates to come here. But this week they passed a resolution calling on the Connecticut General Assembly to enact a National Popular Vote Bill. That bill is designed to put all states in play during presidential elections, by doing an end run around the Electoral College.
The bill would add Connecticut to a list of states that share a compact to effectively nullify the Electoral College by having all their electors cast their votes for whoever wins the national popular vote.
The aldermen’s vote, of course, is advisory. The state’s lawmakers can heed it or ignore it. State Sen. Martin Looney said the idea is worth discussing but cautioned that it could diminish Connecticut election power, since the state has a greater share of the Electoral College than of the national voting population.
Thomas MacMillan Photo
Vox Populi: Alderwoman Sarah Eidelson.
Monday night’s resolution was submitted by Yale Alderwoman Sarah Eidelson (pictured), with a large number of other aldermen signing on as sponsors. She said the measure would bring “greater attention to non-swing states,” and increase voter engagement and turnout in Connecticut.
Under the current Electoral College system, each state is apportioned a number of electors equal to its number of U.S. representatives, plus its two U.S. senators. Nearly every state casts all of its electoral votes for the candidate who wins the popular vote in that state.
As a result of this system, elections are most often decided by a small group of swing states. The battle for the presidency is waged in states like Ohio and Florida, with the majority of states looking on as bystanders. This is unacceptable to proponents of a popular vote system and people who call for abolishing the Electoral College.
To do away with the Electoral College would require a Constitutional amendment. Leaving it in place and simply circumventing its power could be easier.
The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is designed to do just that. Under the compact, states agree to cast their electoral votes for the winner of the national popular vote. The compact would go into effect only when an electoral majority of states have signed onto the deal. Under the plan, although the Electoral College would continue to exist, the president would effectively be elected by a national majority of regular voters.
Proponents say this would be a more equitable system. Candidates would be forced to campaign in more states, and to speak to issues relevant not just to Ohio farmers and Florida retirees. Voters would feel more engaged in the election and could be more likely to vote.
Opponents say a national popular vote system might mean candidates focus more on urban population centers and less on rural areas.
State Sen. Looney said an analysis by former state budget director William Cibes showed that Connecticut has greater election-year clout under the Electoral College than it would under a popular vote system. “Connecticut casts a higher percentage of electoral votes than it would in a popular vote,” Looney said. The Electoral College tends to give smaller states a boost, since they benefit more proportionally from the two-vote ante that all states receive.
“I think it is more complex than it has been presented to be,” Looney said. “There is a reason” why we have the current structure. “It deals with the concept of federalism. We are a nation made up of 50 states.”
Looney also warned that having a popular vote system in 2004 would have meant Connecticut would have cast its electoral votes for Republican George W. Bush, who won the popular vote over Democrat John Kerry. That’s a result that most people in the state would not have been happy with, Looney said.
On the other hand, if some Republican states follow through with talk of apportioning their electoral votes by congressional district, with two-vote bonus for the winner of the state popular vote, then “all bets are off,” Looney said. If that happened, then the country should switch to a popular vote system, he said.
“I think it’s work considering and evaluating in all its aspects,” Looney said of the popular vote plan.
Nine states — all blue — have passed laws agreeing to join the popular vote compact. A law passed the Connecticut House in 2009, and has been stalled in a senate committee since. Looney said the matter is likely to be considered by the Government Administrations and Elections Committee. He said he doesn’t know when that might happen.