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Comment by baggy_trough | Hacker News Reader

Let's imagine a state signs this and is a tipping point state for the presidential election. If this compact has any effect, it will be for the state's electors to vote against the popular vote in that state, resulting in the election of the undesired president according to the state's voters.

Nothing wrong with that constitutionally, but I suspect the politicians will feel differently after the voters express their opinion of the matter.

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Yes, of course. If you support the election of President based on national popular vote, then you surely realize that sometimes the President will not be the candidate that was preferred in certain states.

If this actually does pass the tipping point, nobody will even be counting electors any more, they will only be counting the popular vote. The electors will be considered just a formality.

Vote counts will still be reported at every level, but electors will all cast their votes for the national popular vote winner.

It will be easy enough to note which states' vote counts favor candidate B, despite the national popular vote favoring candidate A.

As parent says, that's the design, but I'm sure there will be upset people in those states.

Well, yeah, people who don't like the winning candidate will be upset. Perhaps some people will be upset that the preferred candidate in their household, neighborhood, city, county, or state didn't win. I don't see how this is an effective argument against this policy.

> As parent says, that's the design, but I'm sure there will be upset people in those states.

There are people upset with the plurality winner getting all the states votes, too.

Not to mention a plurality of voters in the entire country in 2000 and 2016.

If the popular vote favored, say Trump, and if California could change the election by pulling out of the compact, they would. In a heartbeat.

That's why I'm not too worried about it. If it would really change the result, it's easy for a State to hit the pause button.

> it's easy for a State to hit the pause button

Is it that easy? It's a compact, not trivial to pull out of.

Let's see:

- Enough states pass this for it to be in force in 2020.

- Trump wins the popular vote in 2020. However, he would not have won an EC vote because of California and New York.

- California decides to renege on the compact, and votes for Biden instead.

- A bunch of red states sue California. Long before the court cases go anywhere, Biden takes the oath of office.

And what then?

Bush v. Gore was decided more than a month before inauguration. Why would this take much longer?

The compact explicitly requires a much longer notice period than the time between Election Day and Inauguration Day if you want to pull out.

And if they don't abide by that? Then what? Who's going to enforce it, and through what mechanism?

The US constitution says that presidential electors are chosen in a manner prescribed by the state legislature. They change the prescription, just as some have changed it now.

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