Colorado State Senate Passes National Popular Vote 19-to-16
January 29, 2019
Denver, CO -- The Colorado State Senate today passed SB19-042, the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, on a 19-to-16 vote. The bill, which would add Colorado to a growing coalition of states allocating their electors to the winner of the national popular vote in presidential elections, now moves to the Colorado House of Representatives for consideration, where it is sponsored by Representatives Emily Sirota and Jeni James Arndt.
The National Popular Vote Compact is an agreement, supported by both Democrats and Republicans, between 11 states (California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington) and the District of Columbia to award all of their electoral votes to whichever presidential candidate wins the popular vote. This group of states currently has a total of 172 electors, 98 short of the 270 needed for the Compact to go into effect should a presidential candidate win the electoral college but not the national popular vote.
If this bill were signed into law, Colorado would officially add nine electors to this growing national movement. Sen. Mike Foote (D-Lafayette), the bill's prime Senate sponsor, said the bill represented a step forward for all American voters.
"This really is a victory for those who believe that every vote should be counted equally," said Senator Foote. "SB19-042 is about making sure ‘one person, one vote’ becomes the law of the land. Colorado is one step closer to saying that every vote should be counted equally, no matter where that voter happens to live."
Since the historically bipartisan proposal was first introduced in Colorado in 2006, more than 2,800 legislators across the country have signed onto the proposal as co-sponsors, one third of whom are Republicans.
"This really isn't a red versus blue idea. This is about making sure that the President of the United States is elected by the entire nation, not just a handful of ‘battleground states’ that get to decide our Presidential elections under the current system,” said Senator Foote. “All of Colorado’s voters should be heard, regardless of whether or not we are considered a battleground state."
For more information about SB19-042, please visit: https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb19-042.
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