Today, appreciating the federal structure of the country, many voters consider themselves Americans first and citizens of their respective states second. This may signal that presidential election rules should better reflect this feeling than they currently do.
A direct popular election of a President is often referred to as an alternative to the Electoral College. Despite both merits and deficiencies of this alternative, introducing this type of election both de jure—by a constitutional amendment abolishing the Electoral College—and de facto— without amending the Constitution (National Popular Vote Plan)—seems unlikely.
Under any direct popular election, small states—with five electoral votes and fewer—and currently "battleground" medium-size states lose their Electoral College benefits while gaining nothing in exchange. These states are unlikely to support either proposal.
But these states may support introducing the nationwide popular vote in presidential elections in a manner allowing the states to gain more attention in presidential campaigns while preserving all they have under the Electoral College.
Let a recipient of a majority of the nationwide popular vote and popular vote majorities in at least 26 states (or in at least 25 states and DC) be the next President—even if another presidential candidate wins the Electoral College—should more than 50 percent of all eligible voters vote. Only if no such recipient exists, should the winner of at least 270 electoral votes—automatically awarded by the states and DC in a manner in which they award electoral votes—become the next President. If there is no such electoral vote recipient either, let the House of Representatives choose a President, as the Twelfth Amendment directs.
Any state may decide that winning a plurality of state votes is sufficient to carry the state, and each state should retain the right to appoint electors under a too small state voter turnout.
To clarify the idea underlying the proposed election rules, let’s call a “President of the people” a presidential candidate who wins a majority of the nationwide popular vote (provided that more than 50 percent of all eligible voters voted in the election). Let’s call a “President of the states” a presidential candidate who is the choice of a majority of voting voters in each of at least 26 states or 25 states and DC (provided that more than 50 percent of all eligible state (DC) voters voted in each of such 26 states or in each of such 25 states and DC).
If a presidential candidate is both a “President of the people” and a “President of the states,” this candidate becomes the next President, even if another candidate wins the Electoral College.
If there is no candidate who is both a “President of the people” and a “President of the states,” or if less than 50 percent of all eligible voters vote, then either the Electoral College winner becomes the next President, or the House of Representatives elects a President.
Unlike other rules introducing the nationwide popular vote in presidential elections, the proposed rules build on the existing election system rather than call for abolishing it. These rules encourage the nation to elect a President with a mandate from both the nation and the individual states as equal members of the Union, which may be a better choice for America than just the Electoral College winner.
Under these rules, Americans vote directly for President, and their votes count both statewide and nationwide. The rules follow the spirit of the "one state, one vote" federalist principle in electing a President by states and keep the Electoral College mechanism as a back-up.
The proposed rules encourage both major party candidates to compete in large states to win a nationwide popular majority and in small and medium-size states to seek to win in at least 26 states, especially in currently "battlegrounds," since the Electoral College still may finally decide the election outcome.
These rules motivate voters to vote in presidential elections if they wish to elect a President both as a nation and a federation directly, since the existing system takes over if less than 50 percent of all eligible voters vote.
Since the Electoral College remains a back-up, a loser of the nationwide popular vote majority still may win the Presidency even if the winner of such a majority exists in the election. But the likelihood of this outcome is smaller than under the existing election system.
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