This letter is in response to the December 16, 2020 Alexandria Gazette article “Dropping Out of the Electoral College” about a bill before the General Assembly to have Virginia join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. The bill does not, in fact, propose that Virginia drop out of the Electoral College, and it does not establish a national popular vote in lieu of the Electoral College. It proposes to change the way Virginia’s Electoral College votes are cast. The Electoral College itself would remain.
Under the rules of the compact, member states pledge to cast all of their electoral votes for the winner of the national popular vote regardless of who wins the majority of votes in their own respective states.
By Salena Zito
Elections often are a study of something in between getting the election results we deserve and politicians misreading why their side won a big race, especially if it is a narrow win.
In times of turmoil, voters often choose with their hearts and not their heads. And in case you havenât noticed, for the past two decades, we have been in a constant state of turmoil, with our election results reflecting that instability.
One could argue that the beginning of the technology revolution 20 years ago began the modern swings in our electoral politics. The impact has become very similar to the economic, cultural, geographic and political upheaval of the Industrial Revolution in the 1880s.