Colorado Joins Compact to Give Its Electoral Votes to the Popular Winner

Colorado became the 12th state to pledge its presidential electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote after Gov. Jared Polis signed the legislation late last week. Now, the question is whether enough additional states will join the pact to change the way we elect the President of the United States.

Under the National Interstate Vote Compact, states are pledging to pool their electoral votes towards the presidential candidate who wins the most individual votes nationwide, regardless of whether that person wins their state.

Proponents of the agreement say it puts more power in the hands of individual voters and encourages voters in non-swing states to head to the polls, Roll Call reported.

The other 11 states to join the pact since 2007 are California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. With Colorado's nine electoral votes, the compact currently has 181 votes. In order to be elected president, a nominee needs to win 270 electoral votes.

"Getting a battleground state like Colorado is really important for us," Barry Fadem, president of the nonprofit National Popular Vote Inc., told Roll Call. Colorado is the first traditional swing state to join the pact.

New Mexico and Delaware are also considering joining the agreement. In both states, the legislation has passed the House and Senate and now lies in the hands of the governors.

Together, the two states hold eight electoral votes.

The national popular vote movement gained momentum after 2016 election, where Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton lost the presidency despite securing 3 million more votes than Republican candidate Donald Trump.

According to the Associated Press, some Republican opponents of the National Interstate Vote Compact argue it causes smaller rural states, which often lean Republican, to lose power in the election since candidates may opt to spend less time and money campaigning there.

But some experts doubt the compact with gain enough states to cover 270 electoral votes by 2020; others argue the pact may not be constitutional. Some also say states might cave in to pressure to forego their promise, even though this is prohibited under the compact

If, for example, President Donald Trump wins the popular vote this time, "It's going to be very difficult to explain to California –to your Californian constituents as a California representative or senator– why you're casting California's electoral vote against the wishes of a supermajority of Californians in favor of Donald Trump," Norman Williams, a law professor at Willamette University, told Roll Call.