REP. BASILE SUPPORTS NATIONAL POPULAR VOTE BILL

 BOSTON – Representative Carlo Basile (D-East Boston) announced that the House of Representatives has approved legislation which would guarantee that the candidate for President who receives the most popular votes wins the election.  Under the proposal, which now heads to the Senate, Massachusetts would join a compact of states that agree to pledge their Electoral College votes to whichever candidate wins the national popular vote.  The agreement would only take effect once a number of states having a combined number of Electors totaling at least 270 (a simple majority of the 538 total) had joined the compact.

 By a vote of 116-37, the House approved H.4952, which would guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states.  The vote followed more than 8 hours of intense debate over two days.  More than two dozen members spoke on the issue.

 Rep. Basile said, “With this legislation, every single vote in Massachusetts will count and showing up to the polls every four years will truly mean something.  Massachusetts has been a spectator in the Presidential race, with the outcome here not in doubt.  That means virtually no Presidential advertising and no campaigning.  We want to make all votes equal, regardless of where a voter lives.”

 Rep. Garrett Bradley, D-Hingham, who Chairs the Committee on Election Laws, said “House members recognized that the current system is inherently undemocratic, and has become outdated and obsolete.  In every other election, except for the highest office in the land, the person with the most votes wins.  This bill will ensure that the voters of Massachusetts have an equal voice in the process.”

The bill received widespread support from voter advocacy groups including Common Cause, MassVOTE, and MassPIRG.

“The national popular vote bill will empower voters by making sure every vote is equally important,” said Pamela Wilmot, Executive Director of Common Cause Massachusetts. “The House moved Massachusetts one step closer to abandoning an outdated system that encourages polarization and partisanship and four times in our history has elected the second-place candidate.  House Speaker Sal DiMasi (D-Boston), Election Laws Chairman Garrett Bradley (D-Hingham), and lead sponsor Rep. Charley Murphy (D-Burlington) worked very hard to ensure passage of this important legislation and we thank them and every other member who voted for it, including Rep. Basile.”

A June 2008 survey of 800 likely Massachusetts voters showed that 73 percent support a national popular vote. The new system for electing President would take effect only when enacted by states possessing a majority of the electoral votes (270 of 538).  When the bill is in effect, all the electoral votes from those states would be awarded, as a bloc, to the presidential candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states (and the District of Columbia).

To date, National Popular Vote bills have been enacted into law by Hawaii, Illinois, New Jersey, and Maryland and is currently on the Governor’s desk in California.  The bill has passed 19 legislative chambers including the Maine Senate, Vermont House and Senate, Rhode Island House and Senate, Arkansas House, Colorado Senate, North Carolina Senate, California Senate and Assembly, and Washington Senate.