Virginia Joins Push for Nationwide Popular Vote in U.S. Elections
Virginia has signed onto the National Popular Vote Compact, a growing effort to ensure the presidential candidate who wins the popular vote nationwide becomes president.
Virginia has joined a growing national effort to ensure that the presidential candidate who wins the popular vote nationwide becomes president, rather than the candidate who wins the Electoral College vote. With Virginia on board, the National Popular Vote Compact is now enacted in states worth 222 electoral votes, moving closer to the 270 electoral votes needed to take effect.
The National Popular Vote Compact is an agreement among states to award all of their electoral votes to the candidate who wins the overall popular vote across the country, rather than the candidate who wins their individual state. This would effectively replace the Electoral College system, which can result in a president being elected without winning the popular vote, as has happened several times in U.S. history.
Source: NPR
