A two-decade effort to ensure the winner of a U.S. presidential election is always the candidate who receives the most votes nationwide just reached a significant new milestone. Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger signed legislation Monday making Virginia the 19th jurisdiction to join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, an agreement committing member states to award their electoral votes to the national popular vote winner. With Virginia’s addition, the compact now represents 222 electoral votes, putting it 82% of the way to the 270 it needs to take effect. The compact, first conceived in 2006, works entirely within the existing Electoral College framework, no constitutional amendment required, by leveraging each state’s existing authority to award its own electoral votes as it sees fit which is a right upheld consistently by courts. “This is a very straightforward, long-term plan to get us to a point where every person’s vote counts the same as every other person’s vote,” Governor Spanberger said.
The idea has deep and broad popular support as a 2024 Pew survey found 63% of Americans prefer a popular vote system. Supporters point out that under the current winner-take-all system, presidential campaigns largely ignore the majority of states, focusing almost exclusively on a handful of swing states — meaning most American voters never see a candidate in person or have their vote meaningfully contested. “Bills have been introduced in almost every state, most passed in a bipartisan way,” said Alyssa Cass of the National Popular Vote Project. “This is on the 5-yard line of making this a reality.” Just 48 more electoral votes stand between the compact and activation — and the movement shows no signs of slowing down.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/14/majority-vote-for-president-us-constitution
