An Assembly committee held a public hearing Wednesday on a resolution that would enter Wisconsin into an agreement to support changing presidential elections to a popular vote.
Currently, each state has the power to allocate their electoral votes as they see fit and can also change their state laws concerning awarding their electoral votes.
The bill would sign Wisconsin on to the National Popular Vote bill, which is an agreement among states that they support presidential candidates being elected through a popular vote. Under this bill, all of a state’s electoral votes would be given to the presidential candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states.
According to Rep. Kelda Helen Roys, D-Madison, the bill would only take effect when enough states have passed it to have 270 electoral votes, which is enough to vote to elect a president.
Roys said the current “winner takes all” system is not reflective of a democracy.
“In a democracy, you start with the fundamental principle that the candidate that gets the most votes should win the election,” Roys said. “That is true in every single election, whether it be for dog catcher, school board [or] prom queen. It’s true for every single election except one, [which is] arguably the most important: the leader of the free world.”
Roys added the current system distorts campaigns because candidates only focus their attention on “swing states” and ignore states that are considered “safe.” This means that most candidates are ignoring two-thirds of the country.
“There’s no question that Wisconsin has benefited from this inequality,” Roys said. “We were a swing state in 2000 and 2004, and we got a lot of resources and attention, and it was real fun, but swing state status comes and goes and you’re not a swing state forever.”
This bill has not found unanimous support, however. Julaine Appling, president of Wisconsin Family Action, said at the hearing the bill is a “sham” and would produce a counterfeit national popular vote.
Appling added if people really want to change the way presidential elections are voted on, legislators should put it up for an amendment to the constitution instead of entering Wisconsin into a “pact” with other states.
“Should this bill continue on this pace through the legislative process, Wisconsin citizens will have little to no input on an issue of considerable consequence, with significant change for our state and our nation, and will have major ramifications,” Appling said.
Jay Heck, executive director of Common Cause in Wisconsin, said his organization supports the bill because the president should be decided by whoever has won the most votes.
Heck added that changing the system would ensure that the situation during the 2000 presidential election does not happen again. In 2000, Republican candidate George W. Bush won, even though Democratic candidate Al Gore won the popular vote.
“If you want to look at it from a selfish perspective, I’m sure it’s not going to be as exciting [for Wisconsin], but on other hand, it’s better for all of us in Wisconsin to have an electoral system that is fair,” Heck said.
