Missouri Bill to Put a Ban on National Popular Vote in the Missouri Constitution

Missouri Representative John Simmons (R-Washington) has introduced HJR 99. It would add a section to the Missouri Constitution banning the state from ever joining the National Popular Vote Plan. If the legislature passes it, the voters would then vote on the idea in November 2020. Thanks to Ken Bush for this news.


Comments

Missouri Bill to Put a Ban on National Popular Vote in the Missouri Constitution — 13 Comments

  1. Another attempt to subvert USA Const Art V and 1-10-3.

    Direct = Indirect — Con Law 0000001.

  2. While I don’t think National Popular Vote Compact is unconstitutional, I do think that there are several problems with implementation that its proponents haven’t thought out. For instance, what do you do in a close election when a non-compact state doesn’t count absentee votes because the outcome wasn’t close there? Also, in a close election, could you compel a recount in a state that wasn’t close? Finally, how do you count votes from states with ranked choice voting, or any sort of runoff?

  3. WZ — Nothing in NPV scheme from Hell from having CA/NY/MA/etc. permit RED China / RED Russia persons from voting for a RED communist Donkey Prez candidate.

    How many MILLIONS DEAD in the obvious coming USA Civil W-A-R II ???

    Uniform definition of Elector-Voter in ALL of the USA.
    PR
    Nonpartisan AppV
    TOTSOP

  4. And, for that matter, if under National Popular Vote the total vote is close, could there be a recount in all of the compact states at the same time?

  5. The main issue I have with the NPVIC is the fact that states can have different requirements to vote. Some bar felons, some have only 1 day and others have early voting, what if a state lowers the voting age to 16, or enacts RCV? How will those differences be taken into account or will there be a race between the states to expand the voting base as much as possible to maximize their impact on the popular vote?

  6. @BL,

    One of the Amar brothers once wrote that the electoral college was sexist. He said that if popular vote had been used that states would have rushed to permit women to vote. See also 1896 election. Female suffrage in Colorado (enacted in 1893) may have trimmed 60,000 off the 600,000 vote McKinley margin.

    Georgia had the 18 YO vote in 1960, and may have flipped the popular vote to JFK.

    A state could lower the voting age for presidential elections only, or permit non-citizens to vote.

  7. @Walter: I think it’s largely a myth that states don’t count the absentee ballots if the election is not close enough for them to make a difference. Keep in mind that most states not only have a presidential election going on, they often have elections for state legislature, county offices, judges, special districts, etc. Even if the presidential election is a runaway for one candidate, the elections for other offices will necessarily be much closer since fewer people are in those electorates. And since counting absentee ballots, in most places, just means running the whole ballot through a machine, I would assume that the whole ballot gets counted, not just the votes for offices that are close.

    (I said “largely” a myth above, rather than totally a myth, because I’m not confident that every elections supervisor in the country conducts the vote counting properly.)

  8. @Joshua K:

    There is nothing to prevent a state from expressly prohibiting a count of absentee ballots for Presidential elector, if the outcome is not in doubt: i.e. if the margin of victory exceeds the number of uncounted absentee ballots.

  9. How does Oregon survive with ALL Absentee Ballots ???

    — with possible Nov winter snow storms / year round earthquakes ???

    AB = paper replacement for voter voting in person on ELECTION DAY.

    Is USA Postal Snail even slower than average in Oct-Nov ???

    DEADLINE for mailing OUT of ABs ???

    2020 TOTAL *investigation* of ABs — starting with early 2020 Prez primaries ???

  10. @WZ,

    Even states that permit late arriving mail votes to be counted will count other absentee ballots on election day. At minimum they will have validated signatures.

    Your procedure would also be messy if the absentee ballots were significant for some races but not others.

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