One person, one vote

A bulletin from West Virginia Citizen Action Group:

Act Now to Support One Person, One Vote!

One person, one vote, is one of the most sacred tenets of our democracy. So why doesn’t it apply to electing the President? In presidential elections, West Virginia is a backwater that mostly gets ignored. This could change if WV joins the National Popular Vote Compact.

The National Popular Vote bill (HB 2378), advanced by the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday, would address this problem by making every vote equal, and guaranteeing the Presidency to the candidate who gets the majority of votes in all 50 states combined.

Most people know that the presidential candidate with the most votes can sometimes lose the election. But even worse, West Virginia voters are virtually ignored every election. The reason is because of our state “winner take all” rule for awarding electoral votes. Candidates of both parties have no incentive to campaign in states where they are comfortably ahead or hopelessly behind. They would rather pay attention to “swing states,” where the result actually matters.

Go to http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/wv to write your delegate(s) now and ask them to support the National Popular Vote bill (HB 2378). When you get copies of your e-mails forward them to us at info@wvcag.org so we know how many contacts our Delegates are getting!

With the National Popular Vote bill, our state would join an interstate agreement to award its electoral votes to the Presidential candidate who gets the most popular votes in all 50 states. The agreement would only take effect once passed by states representing a majority of the Electoral College. Seven states have already passed the law.

Even after elections are over, the issues that matter to West Virginia just aren’t on the radar like they are for important swing states. With a national popular vote, candidates will be forced to campaign in all fifty states and address a wider spectrum of concerns. And they won't be able to write off West Virginia.

Help assure that every vote is equal and every state matters in every presidential election. Write your representative and tell them to support HB2378, and to pass National Popular Vote in West Virginia.

Send them a quick e-mail here: http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/wv