| ALERT |
March 20, 2012
Dear Friends,
We need your help. A dangerous anti-Electoral College bill is pending before the Tennessee House. A subcommittee of the State & Local Government Committee will hear testimony on the legislation tomorrow, March 21. Please call your state representative. Tell him that you are OPPOSED to HB 1302, the National Popular Vote legislation.
Contact information for representatives is here:
HB 1302 would require Tennessee to join an interstate compact, as proposed by the National Popular Vote organization. This compact would require Tennessee to give all its presidential electors to the winner of the national popular vote, instead of the winner of Tennessee’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 mid-sized states such as Tennessee. Without the Electoral College, Tennessee 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:
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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.
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The margin between two candidates could be very close, yet Tennessee could find itself unable to participate in a recount.
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Tennessee could be forced to award its 11 electors to a presidential candidate who was not on its ballot.
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Other states might use recount standards that differ from Tennessee’s. They might thus cause election totals to tilt in favor of their candidate, as opposed to Tennessee’s
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Tennessee could be forced to award its 11 electors to a candidate who was overwhelmingly rejected by Tennessee 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 Tennessee become the 9th state to endorse this crazy idea. States such as Tennessee uniquely benefit from the Electoral College.
Call your representative TODAY and urge him to vote NO on HB 1302. 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 and what his contact information is here:
More information on the legislation can be found here: http://www.SaveOurStates.com
Phyllis Schlafly has also written extensively on the issue and you can find her writings here:
The bill that has been proposed in Tennessee can be found here:
Thank you for your help!