Letter to Alaska State Senators

Alaska State Capitol Building in Juneau, AK

National Popular Vote Plan Wastes Alaska's Time!

Honorable Senators:
 
I’m old enough to remember when The Last Frontier became America’s 49th state. It
was a big deal.

Alaska is still a big deal, very much in a class by itself. Your state ratified
the Constitution back in 1959, and every day since, your unique voice and influence in
presidential elections have been safeguarded by the Electoral College. It secures your
borders against vote spillover and election irregularities from anywhere else. Until 2006
states could take this for granted. But then some California really deep pockets began
pushing something they call “National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.” It’s embodied
in SB61, now in the Rules Committee. I hope you will not advance the bill. Permit me
to explain.

National Popular Votes are Rarely Used to Elect Nations' Chief Executives

I’m a former legislative staffer (OR) and have lobbied against NPV, on my own nickel, for
over a decade. These guys are smooth talking pros making boatloads of $$$. Their spiel
is well honed. But to this day a national presidential vote has NO HOME in any major
country. National votes for Chief Executive happen in: 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.  (Wikipedia, "First Past the Post Voting") 
 
Of this list, 11 countries have populations under 10M. The remaining are either
monolithic, unstable, and/or dictatorships. NONE are regarded as America is by the rest
of the free world. By any measure this is NOT who we are. A colleague observes: “A
national popular vote discounts the individual. This is where the weird math comes in; if
you dilute the whole, and do not account for the small, then your results become
skewed. This is how Third World dictators hold ‘NATIONAL’ elections and always win.”
 
Bingo. NPV is a scheme to render the Electoral College, AND state borders, as mere
props. How? If the Compact pulls in enough states to equal 270 electoral votes—the 
number required to name a President, those states commit to hand over their own
electors to the national winner... REGARDLESS of what that means to their own
voters. Forget the villages, towns and cities, and local leaders. Their vote, and voice,
would be swept away. 

National Popular Vote Erodes even MORE of Alaska's Sovereignty
 
Before going further, let me acknowledge that more than once the federal
government has stuck its nose pretty deep into Alaska’s business. I wouldn’t be
surprised if this makes you skeptical of any erosion of state sovereignty. Just imagine
if NPV rendered the STATE of Alaska defenseless in the presidential vote count.
 
Did you know: The Constitution requires state electors to meet in their own state and
on the same day, BY DESIGN. That’s because the Founders did not want the electors
colluding with each other. They wanted each State's votes to be cast as independently as
possible. That’s how clearly NPV runs contrary to our Constitutional model. 
 
Since 2007 when the first state (Maryland) adopted the Compact, NPVIC has been defeated at least
once in 35 different states, including Alaska. In 177 recorded legislative attempts, NPV bills have a win-loss record of 18-158.  (One 'attempt' is one or more NPV Compact bills introduced in a 2-year Legislative session. These 35 Non-NPV State Legislatures have TURNED DOWN the NPV compact scheme an average of 4.5 times each.)

(Editor's Update, June 2023:  Sixteen (16) States, plus DC, have joined the NPV Compact. The Nevada Legislature, in May 2023, took Step 1 in NPV's first-ever attempt to sidestep a Republican Governor's potential veto by voting to place the NPV scheme in the State Constitution. A different Nevada Legislature must now also pass the measure (in 2025 or later) and then the measure would go before Nevada voters. We credit the NPV lobbyists with their 18th legislative win for that, though 16 States, plus DC, have joined the NPV compact.)

Most lawmakers understand that the decisions of their state and its voters must not be outsourced. 

NPV Makes Voters UNEQUAL
 
A standard NPV claim is that under the Compact “every vote is of equal value in our
process.”  The question is, equal to WHAT? In 2020 an Alaska citizen’s vote for President
was 1 in 359,530. Under NPVIC, it would have been 1 in 158 million! So how exactly is it
that NPVIC would make your constituents “more equal” in ANY way that matters?
​ 
THE POLITICS: NPV backers have nabbed a lot of the ‘low hanging fruit,’ those trifecta
(blue) states. Meanwhile, states in flyover country consistently say NO to this
scheme... even though they’re the people NPV claims the Electoral College leaves
behind.

Frankly, these smooth talkers are salivating over what Alaska could do for
THEM. You would be a plum victory and allow them to say that “NPV has bi-
partisan support.”  From 2015-2019 to date, NPV received exactly FOUR GOP lawmaker ‘yes’ votes.

(Editor's Update, June 2023: From 2016-2023 to date, in the seven (7) States that have enacted the NPV scheme, NPV received exactly FOUR (4) GOP lawmaker ‘yes’ votes (1%), while 451 Democrat lawmakers (99%) have voted to enact it.)

Lacking precedent, NPV backers continue to weave their utopian feel-good fairy tale.
Please turn them away as unqualified to waste Alaskans’ time.

Respectfully,
Roberta Schlechter,
NW Region Director
Volunteer for KEEP OUR 50 STATES.

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(Editor's Note: This chart was added in June 2023, following Minnesota's enacting the NPV compact in May 2023, and Nevada's Legislature advancing an NPV State Constitutional amendment proposal one step, also in May.)