OPINION:
In “Spanberger trades Virginia’s influence for national popular vote gamble” (Web, May 11), The Times’ editorial board notes that Virginia has joined the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.
The agreement requires compacting states to cast their presidential electoral votes for the national popular vote winner at such time as the compacting states have the 270 electoral votes needed to elect a president.
The compact is unconstitutional, and its support is overstated.
The Constitution says, in part, “No state shall, without the consent of Congress, enter into any agreement or compact with another state.” The Supreme Court has held that this clause bans any interstate compact that would adversely affect states not party to the compact.
The popular vote compact fits that bill. Its whole purpose is to elect a president who wouldn’t have been elected without the compact, which means the compact would dilute the electoral power of non-compacting states.
The support for this agreement is not what it seems to be. States with 222 electoral votes are parties to the compact, but it’s hard to find non-compacting states that will join, and the number of electoral votes in the compacting states will almost certainly be reduced by the 2030 census.
The compacting states don’t have a long row to hoe, but it’s a tough one.
JIM DUEHOLM
Washington
Please read our comment policy before commenting.