(Source: MIRS.News, Published 06/16/23) The lead sponsor of legislation that would add Michigan to the coalition of states vowing to award their electoral college votes to the presidential candidates who win the national popular vote said she's "pretty sure" her bill will get a House vote before the summer recess.
Rep. Carrie A. Rheingans (D-Ann Arbor) said getting National Popular Vote (NPV) through the House by July 4 is her No. 1 priority. A Democratic Party priority, NPV builds on a foundation of the country's democracy -- one person, one vote, she said.
"We could do this via a ballot initiative, or we can do this with the power the U.S. Constitution gives us as legislators," said Rheingans on an early recording of the MIRS Monday podcast.
"Article 2, Section 1 says state legislatures are the only ones who can award our electoral college votes. I hope we can use our power now. It makes it easier. It doesn't cost as much and it's a power we actually have."
Rheingans said she'd like to make Michigan a leader in rekindling excitement in states like Alaska so the NPV coalition can hit 270 electoral college votes and be in effect for the 2024 election. The coalition currently sits at 205 electoral college votes.
Earlier this week, both Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt (R-Lawton) and House Minority Leader Matt HALL (R-Kalamazoo) said they anticipate zero "yes" votes in their respective caucuses on the bill.
Too many grassroots Republicans strongly believe Donald Trump wouldn't have won the 2016 election under NPV. There's also a strong suspicion that big city election officials will allow ballot stuffing for a Democratic nominee. And the philosophical argument about state sovereignty also makes NPV a strong "no" among today's Republican legislators.
But Rheingans said NPV has always been a bi-partisan initiative and she believes there will be Republican votes if and when it gets on the board.
Former legislators Dick Posthumus and Mike Green support NPV and their sons both serve in the House today. But MIRS checked with both House Minority Floor Leader Bryan Posthumus (R-Rockford) and Rep. Phil Green (R-Millington) and neither said a "yes" vote on NPV from them was likely.
One of the key supporters of NPV, former Michigan Democratic Party Chair Mark Brewer, was asked about the Republicans' growing united opposition to the proposal.
“It's just partisan opposition for the sake of partisan opposition,” he said. "It's like many things the Republicans have done in the last several months. They are ignoring the people's opinion and there is support for this." Brewer adds it has bi-partisan backing from former GOP House Speaker Chuck Perricone.
Earlier this week, MIRS reported former Rep. Pete Lund is leading a "no" vote campaign called Michigan Votes for Michigan Voters to prevent Michigan from joining NPV.
"I think the electoral college has served the country quite well (and) I don't want to play with it. I don't want to do an end run around it," Lund said.
Brewer was asked to respond to that argument.
"What it will mean is one-person, one-vote rule," Brewer said. "It will assure that the person who gets the most votes will be elected president. The presidency is the only office where the person who gets the most votes doesn't necessarily win."
Lund countered that there are "Democrats who I have talked to who oppose it", so the bi-partisan rhetoric is not what it seems to be.
He argued that the vote of a Michigan voter will be diminished as a result of combining the state's presidential vote here with other larger states. Right now, he said Michigan has had an important role in the presidential race and "absolutely" under this plan that vote could be more "meaningless."
He advised Brewer that if he believes in this so much, "move to change the constitution."
