While the Southern slave-holding states were large, most of their populations consisted of slaves, counted only as three-fifths of one white personand only white men could vote.
Northern states like New York, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvaniaalthough not completely devoid of slaves themselveswere more populous; therefore, it was conceivable they would have more votes, effectively disenfranchising less populated states. The Electoral College "solves" this by granting votes to states based on their number of senators and representatives in the House, not by the number of popular votes cast.
This means California and New Yorkstates that generally vote Democraticare unable to overshadow smaller states like Delaware and Rhode Island, and less-populated states Wyoming, Montana, and the Dakotas, let alone the mostly Republican Southern states.
The grassroots organization National Popular Vote is dedicated to amending the Constitution to change this.
According to its homepage:
"The National Popular Vote bill would guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. It has been enacted into law in 16 jurisdictions with 196 electoral votes (CA, CO, CT, DC, DE, HI, IL, MA, MD, NJ, NM, NY, OR, RI, VT, WA). The bill will go into effect when enacted by states with an additional 74 electoral votes."
All 50 states have introduced the National Popular Vote bill, which has now passed 40 state legislative chambers in 24 states, at least one legislative chamber in eight states with 75 electoral votes (AR, AZ, ME, MI, MN, NC, NV, OK), and has been unanimously approved at the committee level in Georgia and Missouri, which carry 27 more electoral votes.
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