| ALERT |
February 28, 2012
Dear Friends,
We need your help. A dangerous anti-Electoral College bill is pending before the Utah House. The bill appears to be on a fast track. It was introduced last week, but has already been scheduled for a hearing first thing tomorrow (Wednesday) morning. Due to the short notice, expert testimony against the bill is likely to be limited. National experts who have testified elsewhere simply can’t get to Utah on such short notice. Please call your state representative. Tell him that you are OPPOSED to HB 509, the National Popular Vote legislation. This bill is bad for Utah and for America. Your phone calls are urgently needed!
Contact information for representatives is here:
Membership of the House Committee that will consider NPV is here (scroll down):
HB 509 would require Utah to join an interstate compact, as proposed by the National Popular Vote organization. This compact would require Utah to give all its presidential electors to the winner of the national popular vote, instead of the winner of Utah’s state vote. If enough states agree to the plan, the Electoral College will be effectively eliminated.
NPV is a bad idea for two reasons:
First, the Electoral College provides many benefits to Americans. It affords special protections to the citizens of small and less densely populated states such as Utah. Without the Electoral College, Utah voters can expect to live in the shadow of big cities such as Los Angeles and New York in each and every presidential election.
Second, even assuming the Electoral College needed to be eliminated, this legislation is not the way to do it. It is an end-run around the constitutional amendment process, and it will create many logistical difficulties. These issues will haunt us in election years and cause much litigation and confusion. For instance, this legislation would allow any of the following situations:
- A President can be elected by ANY plurality: 15, 20 or 25 percent of the vote is enough. NPV does not provide for run-offs, nor does it require candidates to meet a certain threshold.
- The margin between two candidates could be very close, yet Utah could find itself unable to participate in a recount.
- Utah could be forced to award its 6 electors to a presidential candidate who was not on its ballot.
- Other states might use recount standards that differ from Utah’s. They might thus cause election totals to tilt in favor of their candidate, as opposed to Utah’s.
- Utah could be forced to award its 6 electors to a candidate who was overwhelmingly rejected by Utah voters.
NPV has been enacted in 8 states plus D.C. It has been supported by legislators who have often spent too little time understanding and researching the logistical ramifications of enacting it. Don’t let Utah become the 9th state to endorse this crazy idea. States such as Utah uniquely benefit from the Electoral College.
Call your representative TODAY and urge him to vote NO on HB 509. And pass this information on to your friends and neighbors who may help to spread the word about this dangerous legislation.
You can find out who your state representative is here: http://www.le.utah.gov/GIS/findDistrict.jsp You can find his contact information here: http://le.utah.gov/house2/representatives.jsp
More information on the legislation can be found here: http://www.SaveOurStates.com
Thank you for your help!
