Nevada Governor-elect Aaron Ford says he supports a multistate effort to ensure the winner of the national popular vote becomes president, reversing his previous opposition to the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. In an interview with KOLO-TV in Reno, the Democratic attorney general said further research into the Electoral College's "racist underpinnings" and its history of negating the presidency for candidates who won the popular vote changed his mind.
Ford did not elaborate on the historical racial aspects of the current system. A spokesperson for the governor-elect confirmed his support for the concept of Nevada joining the compact but indicated it is not a top priority. "While the Governor-elect supports the national popular vote compact, his main focus is making life more affordable and putting money back into Nevadans' pockets," spokesperson Tai Sims wrote. "There will be a time to talk about presidential elections, but right now Ford's focus is lowering costs for working families."
The compact would take effect only if states possessing a majority of the 538 electoral votes — 270 — agree to award their votes to the national popular vote winner. Proponents argue the current winner-take-all system used by most states forces candidates to focus only on closely divided battleground states. Critics, including Nevada Senate Minority Leader Robin Titus, contend a national popular vote would diminish the influence of less populous states like Nevada, which has six electoral votes.
"If we eliminate the Electoral College, big cities across the country will determine who our president is, and those of us in small states will have no input," Titus, a Northern Nevada Republican, told the Review-Journal. "I think Democrats should oppose it, too. It's not a Democratic or Republican issue for me, it's really about whether we're a democracy and whether we're a republic." Newly chosen Senate Majority Leader Edgar Flores, a Clark County Democrat, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Sources: Las Vegas Review-Journal
Original reporting: Las Vegas Review-Journal →
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