Other Information

League of Women Voters^®
of Geneva

Information that you might find useful...

National Popular Vote Study

National Popular Vote (NPV) Compact Study - Delegates at LWVUS Convention 2008 voted to study the advisability of using the National Popular Vote (NPV) Compact among the states as a method for electing the U.S. President.

In brief
The LWVUS is conducting a study regarding the National Popular Vote. The Geneva LWV would like to take part in this study. Below is brief history of the current way we vote for President and the proposed National Popular Vote legislation.

The Electoral College is a process established by the founding fathers as a compromise between election of the president by Congress and election by popular vote. The people of the United States vote for the electors who vote for the President. Each State is allocated a number of electors equal to the number of its U.S. Senators (always 2) plus the number of its U.S. Representatives based, in turn upon the number of people in the state, which is determined by the Federal census.

There is no Constitutional provision or Federal law that requires electors to vote according to the results of the popular vote in their States nor does the Constitution require that electors be completely free to act as they choose. 48 out of the 50 States award electoral votes on a winner-takes-all basis (as does DC). For example, all 55 of California's electoral votes go to the winner of that State election, even if the margin of victory is only 50.1 percent to 49.9 percent. As a result, the winner of the nation-wide popular vote is not necessarily the winner of the election. If no candidate receives a majority of electoral votes, there is a complicated process by which Congress selects the President and Vice President. There are three areas in which the practical effect of the Electoral College has been found to be objectionable. First, a person who has not received the majority of votes of the citizens of this country can be elected President and, this indeed happened in 2000. Secondly, it is thought that the Electoral College system can discourage voter turnout if a voter feels that his choice will not win the popular vote in his state. Thirdly, there is a great deal of evidence that the Electoral College system has created an election process in which the candidates only campaign in the "battleground" states which are not traditionally associated with one party or another.

The Proposed Solution
The National Popular Vote (NPV) legislation provides that the electors of each state which has enacted the law will vote for the Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidate who wins the majority of votes nationally.

More details are available at http://www.lwv.org.

Contact a Geneva League board member to see how you can participate!

United Nations Briefing

The League of Women Voters of New York State is finalizing the details for this year's United Nations briefing on the impact of global warming on women and children around the world.
November 14, 2008 Memo: Individual Co-Sponsorship of UN Event

"Check the Box"

"Check the Box" for Democracy
http://www.lwvnet.org/lwv/easyweb/preview/check_the_box.html

Comments, suggestions, questions? Contact our webmaster. Last revised: June 1, 2009 19:47 PDT.