LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – For the first time in two years, the new Democrat majority Legislature will consider legislation that would determine the Presidency by popular vote, rather than traditional electoral college voting in the presidential election. 

Under a Senate Bill to be introduced by Senator Stephanie Chang (D-Detroit), and a House Bill from Representative Carrie Rheingans (D-Ann Arbor) new legislation would revisit the idea of joining the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC).  

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“At my desk today, I will have a bill available for co-sponsorship that would add Michigan to the list of states that have entered the “National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.”  The Compact is a state-based approach that preserves the Electoral College, state control of elections, and the power of the states to control how the President is elected,” Senator Chang said in a memorandum sent to Senate Colleagues for Co-Sponsorship, “The National Popular Vote law will take effect when enacted by states with a majority of the electoral votes (270 of 538) and will guarantee the United States Presidency to the candidate who receives the most votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.” 

So far, 15 states have enacted the National Popular Vote legislation including: Delaware, California, Washington, Illinois, New York, Oregon, New Mexico, New Jersey, Hawaii, Rhode Island, Vermont, Connecticut, Colorado, Maryland, and Massachusetts.  These states represent 195 of the 270 electoral votes needed to activate the law.  

Under the Republican Majority Legislature, Rep. Matt Kolezar (D-Plymouth) introduced HB 5343 in 2021 which would have created an agreement in which the president would be elected by popular vote. 

“Support for electing the President by a national popular vote is increasing,” Senator Chang said later in the memorandum, “According to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in June and July of 2022, 63 percent of Americans are in favor.  The bill previously passed in the Michigan House of Representatives with bipartisan support in 2008.” 

When Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt (R-Porter Township)  served in the House in 2021, he and now House Minority Leader Matt Hall (R-Richland Township) signed onto a letter opposing the proposed legislation which failed to pass beyond the House. 

“The so-called “National Popular Vote” proposal would permanently disenfranchise every voter in the state, forcing Michigan to cost its presidential elector votes for whoever wins the national popular vote – even if the voters of Michigan overwhelmingly chose someone else,” the letter said.  

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The signers also called the legislation a “disastrous idea, and one that should remain on the scrapheap of American history.”