What is the National Popular Vote Compact?

The National Popular Vote Compact is an agreement among a group of states to award all of their electoral votes to the presidential candidate who wins the overall national popular vote in the presidential election. The Compact was first proposed in 2006 and has slowly gained momentum in recent years. It has been ratified in 15 states and the District of Columbia, representing 196 electors out of the 270 needed to activate the Compact. To put it another way, the National Popular Vote Compact is an agreement among states that would guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The idea is to ensure that the winner of the national popular vote always wins the Electoral College. The Compact would go into effect only if enough states join to represent a majority (270) of the total 538 electoral votes. North Dakota has not yet joined the Compact, but there have been recent efforts to introduce a bill that would allow the state to join. If North Dakota and a sufficient number of other states join the Compact, it would go into effect and establish a nationwide popular vote for presidential elections. As it stands now, the national popular vote for the 2020 election is set to be determined by the Electoral College.

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What is the National Popular Vote Compact?

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