What if we held a presidential election and Washington voted overwhelmingly for the Democrat, yet because of the votes in Texas, Florida and a few other large states, the Republican barely won the nationwide vote. Under the recently passed Senate Bill 5599, the will of Washington voters would be ignored; all of our state’s electoral votes would be cast for the Republican. This will be the law if our governor signs the bill, provided a few other states pass similar laws.
The idea is that a select number of states with Electoral College votes equal to that required to elect a president will agree to cast their votes for whomever wins the national vote. That way, no president can be elected without winning the popular vote.
But in our 220-year history, it has been an issue only four times, and only once in the past 120 years (in 2000). In those four elections, the vote count was so close one could make an argument that, given likely errors in counting millions of votes, either candidate could have been the actual winner.
What if we had another close election like in 2000? Because the election is now decided by popular vote rather than state electoral votes, a recount would have to be nationwide, precinct by precinct. The result could be chaos, constitutional crisis and maybe worse. The devil of SB 5599 is in the details.
JOIN THE DISCUSSION | Register here
We welcome comments. Please keep them civil, short and to the point. ALL CAPS, spam, obscene, profane, abusive and off topic comments will be deleted. Repeat offenders will be blocked. Thanks for taking part — and abiding by these simple rules. A thorough explanation of rules of conduct can be found in our Terms of Service. If you have any questions, including why your comment may not be showing immediately after you submit it, be sure to visit the commenting FAQ.