US Senator Bill Nelson leads on key FairVote priorities: Electoral College, advance registration, more
June 10th, 2008
Rob Richie
Rob Richie is director of FairVote. See his page at fairvote.org for more information.
U.S. Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) has put forward an an ambitious reform agenda that includes several national FairVote priorities, including establishing a national popular vote for president, advance voter registration for teenagers before they reaching voting age and reform of the presidential primary process. His office summarizes his “one person, one vote initiative” in a June 6th news release.
Sen. Nelson’s approach to a national popular vote for presidential is a constitutional amendment. We support such an amendment, and particularly aspects of his approach such as allowing U.S. citizens who are eligible voters to vote wherever they live and, following our precedent for congressional elections, not specifying the voting method to be used.
At the same time, we strongly support the National Popular Vote plan for president. The NPV plan is based on states taking action under the current Constitution — indeed taking action that our founders charged them to do. Just as states took the lead in expanding the franchise to women and directly electing U.S. Senators, there is no reason for states to sit back and accept their current rules that lead to such dysfunctional general elections for president. (Indeed the news is full of the targetting the presidential campaigns already are doing — narrowing the field to at most 15 states, and making the rest what Washington Post columnist David Broder calls “throwaway states.”)
So we are pleased to see the National Popular Vote plan having so much success and doing all we can to boost that success and we are pleased to see Sen. Nelson re-launch a conversation in Congress about amending the Constitution.
Other posts by Rob Richie
- Why Blagojevich scandal on Senate vacancy can push us to elections, not selections - December 10th, 2008
- Ten Surprises about Election 2008 - November 6th, 2008
- National Popular Vote projection nearly spot on - November 5th, 2008
- (updated) Voter turnout could be highest since 1908 - November 5th, 2008
- Electoral reform ballot measure round-up - November 5th, 2008
- Landslide win for instant runoff voting in Memphis, Tennessee - November 5th, 2008
- A win for instant runoff voting in Telluride (CO) looking likely - November 4th, 2008
- Big wins for pro-democracy ballot measures in Connecticut and Maryland - November 4th, 2008
- Projection for Obama - 52.5% of national popular vote in a red-blue nation - November 4th, 2008
- Former instant runoff program director takes state legislative seat - November 4th, 2008
June 10th, 2008 at 9:35 am
I see that California SB37 is back from the dead. Do you have a strategy for avoiding another veto?
June 15th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
Richard Winger at Ballot Access News points that — in addition to making IRV possible and enfranchising citizens who live in the territories — the proposal would also allow Congress to adopt a uniform, nationwide ballot access law for presidential elections. Now candidates for President have to get on 51 different ballots by following 51 different sets of rules, some of them draconian.