The United States Supreme Court issued a unanimous ruling today that permits states to punish electors who fail to vote for the winner of that state's popular vote. To the Court, divided along ideological lines though the Justices may be, this was not even a close call. The Court voted 9-0 to uphold the so-called faithless elector laws. If you want to read the opinion--and why wouldn't you--you can find it here.
This is an important decision for the country not only because it upholds the principle that the states can take steps to ensure that the popular vote controls, but also because it paves the way for states to sign on to the National Popular Vote Compact
The National Popular Vote Compact is an agreement whereby the participating states would pledge their electoral votes to the candidate with the most votes nationwide. You can read more about it on Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Popular_Vote_Interstate_Compact. In my view, every state should sign this agreement. Doing so would put meaning in the words Every Vote Counts.
The popular vote matters. We should be governed by leaders chosen by a majority of the country, not by an electoral system created long ago, in a very different world. If we do not allow every vote to count, we will turn away voters and quell interest in elections. That should not be what we want. We should want the opposite: increased voter participation, and increased voter turnout. We can achieve that by making sure that every vote matters and the popular vote wins.
This is a change we very much need, and the National Popular Vote Compact provides a clearer and faster path than a constitutional amendment. Let's face it, not every idea from more than 200 years ago still makes sense today.
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