MAINE
Editor
Portland Press-Herald
Portland, ME

Responding to News Article 'House Gives Initial Apprioval to National Popular Vote Bill'
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Editor,
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National Popular Vote backers whine about winner-take-all elections, then push to
dismantle Maine’s highly respected alternative process. Good for Rep. Boyer to
emphasize that Maine’s tiny population enjoys outsized influence (0.4% to 0.75%) of the
Electoral College vote.

Recent Supreme Court rulings emphasize state sovereignty regarding elections. Sadly,
Maine House democrats (minus Hasenfus, Mastraccio and Montell) pushed in the
opposite direction and for congressional district #1’s influence to disappear.

Reporter Randy Billings explains that under national popular vote, Mainers would end
up supporting the national winner “even if that doesn’t reflect the state’s results.” But
the idea that this doesn’t “eliminate the electoral college process” is contradicted by bill
language in at least some states, that the NPVIC would terminate “if the Electoral
College is ever eliminated.”

Sponsor Bell bemoans “sitting up late at night” as election results come in. Mainers
should challenge him to explain peoples’ reactions when announced results are always
tied up in court, not by a candidate, but by some or all of the 35 states that have
consistently voted “NO” to giving up their sovereignty.

Discard the idea that just one or two former Presidents “lost the popular vote.” In 1996
Bill Clinton got a smaller percentage of the popular vote (43%) than Donald Trump did in
2015 (46%). The Electoral College delivered both men to the Oval Office because they
were elected by the states. Do you remember any bellyaching over Bill Clinton? Neither
do I.

​See List of U.S. Presidential Elections by Popular Vote, Wikipedia

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Roberta Schlechter
NW Regional volunteer for Michigan-based KEEP OUR 50 STATES
Portland, OR

SMOKY MOUNTAINS, NORTH CAROLINA & TENNESSEE

To the Editor, Smoky Mountain News:

Glen Duer’s March 6 letter calls the US election system “archaic” and Constitutional stipulations “an anachronism.” Those labels could apply to many quirks of a country that covers multiple time zones, whose dollar reigns over the world market, and a country for all its imperfections that is still the dream destination of millions around the world.

List of Countries Electing Their CEO by a National Popular Vote
Duer maintains that no other developed country uses our election system. On the other hand, according to Wikipedia, here is the list of countries who elect their Chief Executive directly by national vote: 

• Angola
• Bosnia & Herzegovina
• Cameroon, Congo
• Equatorial Guinea
• The Gambia
• Honduras
• Iceland
• Kiribati
• Malawi
• Mexico
• Nicaragua
• Palestine
• Panama
• Paraguay
• Philippines
• Rwanda
• Singapore
• South Korea
• Taiwan
• Tanzania, and
• Venezuela.   

Of this list of 21, 11 have populations under 10 million. The remaining are either monolithic, unstable, and/or dictatorships. Surely this isn’t where America belongs. Source: Wikipedia - First Past the Post

We hear lots of talk about “two of the last four presidents got less (popular) votes than their opponents.”  But did you know, in 1996 Bill Clinton got a smaller percentage of the popular vote (43%) than Donald Trump did in 2015 (46%)?  Such details are both interesting and meaningless.  America doesn’t have national elections or a peoples’ president.  POTUS stands for “President of the United STATES.”  The Electoral College, on behalf of the citizens of the STATES delivered both Clinton and Trump to the Oval Office.   Source: Wikipedia - US Presidential "Popular Vote" Margins
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The Founders Created a Union of States, not a Democracy. Ingentionally.
If the Pew Research organization were to take a poll of STATES—the actual players in the selection of our President, the majority would come down solidly on the side of the Electoral College. It plays a central role in America’s governing infrastructure. Duer mentions the possible need to amend the Constitution. Here’s the process: Congress can propose an amendment with a two-thirds majority vote in both the House of Representatives and the Senate OR by a constitutional convention called for by two-thirds of the state legislatures. Then, any proposed amendments must be ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several states, or by conventions in three-fourths of the states.
 
Our Founders’ Number One goal was to establish a Union of states that would chose to hang together, rather than split apart. That along with their knowledge of the history of European “democracies” led to layers of prevention against the tyranny of the majority.
 
Duer has concerns over whether state presidential electors will fulfill their mandated responsibility. But in the Supreme Court Ruling (2020) Chifalo v Washington, NPR reported, "... Writing for the court, Justice Elena Kagan ... said Electoral College delegates have no ground for reversing the statewide popular vote.” That should give Duer some comfort. But it also slams the National Popular Vote, which would confiscate state electors from the voters they represent, and hand them over to the winner of a mythical national election.
 
Duer references Hillary Clinton’s popular vote margin over Trump in 2016. But NBC News reports that in the last 100 days of the campaign:
   1) Trump paid 50% more visits to 6 key battleground states. Hillary made zero trips to Wisconsin.
   2) Trump did all his own campaigning while Hillary used surrogates.
   3) Trump outcampaigned Hillary by 30% in Florida, 23% in Pennsylvania and over 50% in Michigan.
 
Around such consequential matters, may we all avoid those “influencers” who would take us down a simplistic path towards a less unique and perfect nation.
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Roberta Schlechter
Pacific NW Volunteer for Michigan based KEEP OUR 50 STATES.
Portland, OR