PRESS RELEASES
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Deriece K. Bennett
April 3, 2007 (410)
841-3185
Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland Supports Presidential
Elections by Popular Vote
Delegate Sheila E. Hixson and Senator Jamie Raskin introduced HB 148 and SB 634, entitled Presidential Elections-Agreement Among the States to Elect the President by National Popular Vote, which alters methods of presidential elections and enters the State of Maryland into the Agreement Among the States to Elect the President by National Popular Vote; strongly supported by the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland (LBCM), Inc. this bill passed in the Senate and the House of Delegates by a vote of
According to Washington Post columnist E. J. Dionne, Jr. “The American way of electing presidents is antiquated, impractical and dangerous.” He also underscores the following statement made in the U.S. Supreme Court decision (Bush vs. Gore) that “The individual citizen has no federal constitutional right to vote for electors for the President of the United States....”
However, according to the National Black Caucus of State Legislators, even though 48 states have the winner-takes-all rule regarding Electoral College votes for U.S. President, two states (Maine and Nebraska) have already decided to award their electoral votes based on popular votes in Congressional Districts.
This proves that states actually do have the power to decide how votes for the U.S. President are awarded, and accordingly, many other states are recognizing the need to ensure fair representation by electing the U.S. President according to the will of the people, the popular vote.
Championing this cause, the National Black Caucus of State Legislators endorsed legislation, entitled, Resolution to Support the National Popular Vote (NVP) Concept of Using the Interstate Compact to Allow the President of the U.S. to be Elected by the Most Popular Votes Cast in the Election and declares, “Currently, there is nothing in the U.S. Constitution or federal law which needs to be changed in order to implement a nationwide popular vote for President.”
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