Current Event

MADISON, Wis. -- Wisconsin could change the way it votes for president.

Some state lawmakers are supporting a plan that would do away with the Electoral College and elect presidents solely on the results of the national popular vote.

"Right now there is no guarantee that the presidential candidate who gets the most votes will actually get elected," said Rep. Kelda Helen Roys.

Roys of Madison has authored a bill calling on Wisconsin to partner with other states in awarding its electoral votes to the candidate who wins the national popular vote regardless of who wins the Wisconsin vote.

"The bill is pretty simple. It guarantees that the presidential candidate who receives the most votes in all 50 states will become president," said Roys.

Supporters in the Assembly say the change would make Wisconsin more relevant, and Wisconsin voters more important to presidential candidates.

"I think it would enhance their focus on Wisconsin. In some years we get a lot of attention, in other years they ignore us. This would mean they would have to pay attention to us in every election," said Representative Spencer Black.

Opponents believe that because the state vote determines the electors in a presidential contest, the change would create a system that could deny the will of the voters.

"To me it's troubling the idea that somehow we would allow people in Wisconsin to cast their vote, and then have it overturned because people in another state voted a different way," said Representative Jeff Stone.

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VS

The electoral college system VS. a group called “National Popular Vote”

Founding Document

Excerpt from The US Constitution: from Article II - Section 1 :

Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.

We the People:

Wisconsin assembly bill 751 would grant all Wisconsin delegates to the national popular vote.  There are other possibilities – such as splitting the electorals based on the percentage of popular vote percentage in Wisconsin, but basing it on the National percentage practically negates our state’s impact.  

The electoral system punctuates each state’s role in choosing a president; and the people of each state decide how that is done.  It can prevent densely populated urban states from overwhelming the interests of the sparsely populated states when it is based on the residents of the state. For more information ( pro and con) go to

http://www.uselectionatlas.org/INFORMATION/INFORMATION/electcollege_procon.php