Monday, May 16, 2011

Voting Rights Issue Minnesotans Should Act on NOW

I found a very important article from Sheila Kihne at The Activist Next Door. Her article is titled, '"Look that Way!" While the Republicans pass National Popular Vote.'

It concerns the bill HF495, which was passed in committee but has yet to reach the House floor. It is considered likely to pass. The bill will give all of Minnesota's electoral votes in presidential elections to the candidate who got the most popular votes nationwide.

I believe this bill seeks to take away the power of Minnesotan's votes by giving them to whomever the rest of the country voted for, no matter how Minnesotan's really voted. It's a sneaky way to circumvent the true intent of the electoral college.

Anyway, Sheila writes it much more thoroughly on her blog, so visit the article, and contact your legislators immediately to tell them to vote against this bill. The legislative session is about to end, so don't wait!

2 comments:

Gavin Sullivan said...

So if Americans democratically, voluntarily amend their state constitutions so as to guarantee that the winner of the national popular vote is the person who becomes president, you feel good governance is undermined? (By contrast, then, I support democracy.)

I recommend: http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/35733

Friendly Neighborhood Republican said...

Article IV, Section 4) of the Constitution states, "The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government." We are a Representative Republic, not a democracy.

We have states rights in this country, again guaranteed by the 10th Amendment to the Constitution. My post urges the people to contact their Representatives to ask them to vote down the bill in question.

Think of it this way. If I had any drawing skills at all, I would make this a cartoon, but lacking that talent, I’ll write the scenario instead:

All 50 states and the District of Columbia are out to dinner together. The waitress approaches the table and asks Minnesota, “What would you like to order?” Minnesota says, “I’ll just have whatever they’re having.”

That’s unacceptable. Even though I have wholeheartedly disagreed with many of Minnesota’s votes over the years, I am not willing to give over the will of our people to the will of whatever the most popular votes in America want. We are not California. We are not New York. Those states wield tremendous power in national elections. We must remain individual for our own integrity and autonomy.

To give in to this bill is to give up Minnesota's electoral votes, even if our people voted differently than the rest of the country. Good governance is undermined in this scenario because state's rights are circumvented to exclude the will of Minnesota’s people.

As Sheila points out in her article, other states are jumping on this bandwagon. I’m not really a bandwagon jumper. So I don’t like this bill.