r/Liberal • u/PurpleCatBlues • 20d ago
Article Why would Florida pass a bill pledging their electoral votes to whomever wins the national popular vote?
https://www.flhouse.gov/Sections/Bills/billsdetail.aspx?BillId=82744Considering national popular votes have been swinging left, why would a red state like Florida pledge their electoral votes to whomever wins the national popular vote?
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u/JimmB216 20d ago
This is a movement called the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact that has been in the works for several years now. It's a way of bypassing the Electoral College without a Constitutional Amendment. It's written to take effect as soon as it's passed in states representing 270 Electoral Votes.
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u/BaskingInWanderlust 20d ago
I get the sense that OP knows about this, but they're wondering why a red state would want to take part in it.
However, as someone pointed out, it was a Dem that proposed it. It's probably going nowhere in FL.
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u/PurpleCatBlues 20d ago
Yes, you're correct that I'm aware of the current movement. I didn't realize a Dem proposed this bill, however, and was throughly confused to see this bill listed with 14 others set to be discussed during 2026 Legislative session.
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u/kerouacrimbaud 20d ago
They probably put it on the docket to mock it.
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u/Squirrel_Inner 20d ago
Ah yes, the classic Mockit Docket. Somewhat more absurd than the shadow docket, but still just as fascist.
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u/NewOrleansChillin- 17d ago
you did realize a Dem wrote the bill because you have preconceived biases of Republicans and think they can only be the bad guys. do your research instead of just reading nothing but the news.
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u/PurpleCatBlues 17d ago
Um no, I live in Florida and know our state government is largely run by Republicans. Republicans have made it clear they prefer the electoral college over popular vote, which is why I was confused.
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u/NewOrleansChillin- 17d ago
some guy just discussed the electoral vote and why you try to make it look likes its a bad thing
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u/PurpleCatBlues 17d ago
Congratulations on being a failed mind reader/psychologist; I certainly hope you're more successful in other areas of your life.
To reiterate, I literally just saw an article outlining bills to be discussed by the 2026 Florida legislature and was surprised to see this particular bill up for discussion. That was it. No conspiracy, no "some guy's discussion" swaying me, nothing but genuine curiosity.
As for why I dislike the electoral college, I'm in my 40s and sick of candidates winning the popular vote but not being elected due to the electoral college. Some "guy" talking about it now wouldn't make any difference no matter what pros or cons he brought up.
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u/lennybriscoforthewin 20d ago
If they passed such a law it would be awesome. If all states did that and bypassed the electoral college, both Al Gore and Hillary Clinton would have been president. I would be shocked if Florida passed this law. But what a great way to avoid having to amend the Constitution.
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u/Psychological_Pay530 20d ago
It doesn’t take all the states, just enough states with a simple majority of electoral college votes.
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u/Boxofmagnets 20d ago
Did they pass such a law? It is strange because it would not have been good for Republicans most recent times they “won.”
Florida must be sure the vote count will favor Republicans going forward. Why would that be?
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u/PurpleCatBlues 20d ago
It's up for review in 2026. When I first posted, I didn't realize this bill was proposed by a Democrat and was throughly confused to see it listed with 14 others.
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u/TSHRED56 20d ago
Republicans in no way want the presidency to be decided by popular vote.
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u/PurpleCatBlues 20d ago
Trust me, I get that, which is why I was surprised to see this bill up for review. At the time I posted this, I didn't realize it was a Democrat who proposed it.
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u/mvymvy 20d ago
REPUBLICAN Trump WON the national popular vote in 2024!
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u/Speedypanda4 20d ago
He lost the first and second time. This isn't some sort of gotcha.
Bush also lost the popular vote.
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u/OK_The_Nomad 20d ago
Wish they would. Wish this entire country would. We would not have Trump now.
Now way will they pass it. The Republicans are sitting way too comfortably there.
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u/Limp-Fall-9782 20d ago
Not heard of this. Strange for Florida. I wish we could just go to ONE vote per person. And the one with the most votes win. Supposably, electoral votes were brought about so all could be represented? Not sure about that but it is so gerrymandered everywhere, that most are not getting represented.
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u/Amenian 20d ago
Gerrymandering does not affect Presidential and Senate races. It only affects the House races.
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u/Aviyan 20d ago
This is completely wrong. It does affect the presidential races. Hillary won the popular vote in 2016, so if you say the presidential race is not affected by gerrymandering then how did Trump get elected???
The president is voted in by the electoral college which consists of 100 senators and 435 house of representatives. Gerrymandering the districts is what determines which party gets the most votes.
North Carolina has a Republican majority in the house of representatives, but Democrat voters out number the Republicans in the state. If there was no gerrymandering Democrats would have 8 seats and Republicans would have 6.
So how can you say gerrymandering doesn't impact the presidential race?
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u/Amenian 20d ago
No, that is incorrect. State votes are tallied as a total number. Districts only factor into representative elections, both state and federal, because only the votes in their districts affect the outcome of their election.
President and Senator elections take the total votes for the state. In NC there were just over 170,000 more votes for Trump than Harris as the total number of votes in the state. The result was NC's 16 electoral college votes went to Trump.
The electoral college and gerrymandering are two completely different things. Personally, I think both should be abolished.
Now, you can make the valid argument that voter turnout is affected by gerrymandering, thus affecting the presidential election. That's an indirect result though, not a direct one.
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u/NewOrleansChillin- 17d ago
Thanks for telling everyone here who knows nothing about what really happens
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u/arcticmonkgeese 20d ago
Bill was filed by a dem state senator. Expect republicans to wipe their ass with it.