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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

1. What is National Popular Vote Utah?

NPV Utah is a nonpartisan grassroots organization of concerned citizens working to make the state of Utah a member of the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact before the 2024 presidential election. Watch this 7-minute video: What it is - Why it's needed.

 

2. What is the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact?

  • The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPV) is a constitutionally conservative document of 888 words outlining state-by-state legislation that guarantees the presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

  • 270 electoral votes of 538 are needed to win the presidency. There are currently 15 NPV member states plus the District of Columbia equaling 196 electoral votes. The NPV Interstate Compact will take effect only when sufficient states equaling an additional 74 electoral votes, enact the law. 

3. Which states have joined the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact?

D.C. and eleven states: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and the District of Columbia

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4. Why haven't any Republican dominated states passed National Popular Vote bill?

With momentum growing, it wont' be long before a "red" state joins the Compact. Already, many Republican states have passed the legislation in one chamber or the other, but it takes passage by both chambers in the same legislative session to enact the bill. The most recent bi-partisan activity: ​​​

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5. Don't only Democrats support a national popular vote?

Many well known Republicans have endorsed it, including former Utah Senators Jake Garn and Bob Bennett, Utah state Representative Jeremy Peterson, Utah state Senator Howard Stephenson, former Utah state Senator Stephen Urquhart, Precinct Chair Utah Republican Party Stan Lockhart, former U.S. Representative from Georgia Bob Barr, former U.S. Senator from Kansas and Presidential candidate Bob Dole; former Leader of the U.S. House Newt Gingrich, President Donald Trump.

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6. Isn't a Constitutional amendment the only way to reform the Electoral College?

No. The winner-take-all system and the Electoral College are not one in the same, and unlike the Electoral College, winner-take-all laws are not part of the Constitution. They were adopted state by state in a process that took almost 100 years, so they don’t require a constitutional amendment to be nullified, just different state legislation to replace them.

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7. Doesn't the Electoral College winner-take-all favor Republicans?

  • ​Only if the weather does too. A county-by-county study performed by the Oklahoma Weather Lab at the University of Oklahoma, indicated that sunnier weather, would have flipped electoral votes for Al Gore in Florida, in 2000, and Bill Clinton, in North Carolina, in 1992.

  • A shift of 59,393 votes in Ohio in 2004 would have elected John Kerry despite President Bush’s nationwide lead of over 3,000,000 votes. A shift of 214,393 votes in 2012 would have elected Mitt Romney despite President Obama’s nationwide lead of almost 5,000,000 votes.

  • The country also only narrowly averted a split between the popular vote and the Electoral College majority in 1960, 1968, 1976, 1992 as well. It's just a matter of time before the popular vote and the Electoral College diverge again, with the Republicans on the losing side.  

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