Action Under the Dome For Monday, Feb. 19

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Monday, February 19, 2024
Jen Lancaster
 

It's Monday, February 19.

It's President's Day. And while we're here, let's take a quick moment to dispel a common myth about the Founding Fathers, the electoral college, and the National Popular Vote.

Nothing about our current electoral system is like what the Founders envisioned. The Founders wanted the legislature to select electors who would be the "most enlightened and respectable citizens," i.e. wealthy landowners (wrote John Jay). There would be no input from the regular people. That doesn't sound like democracy, right?

It's commonly believed that the electoral college was established to give small states more power, when in fact the college is a compromise that allowed slave states to gain more clout and count slaves as part of the population. Hence, the terrible phrase "Three-Fifths Compromise." 

The League believes that the electoral college should be abolished, and while the National Popular Vote compact keeps it intact, we believe NPV is an excellent start. These are some of the many reasons why we're supporting NPV this legislative session. Contact your legislator now and ask them to vote YES when it comes before them for a vote. Learn more by listening to the Democracy Forum from last week.
 
 

Thank you to everyone who showed up at the State House for our annual Advocacy Day! We celebrated our 104th birthday in League-style by lobbying our legislators on our top priorities. We also hosted a panel on gun safety reform with national and regional experts. The League of Women Voters has held the position since 1990 that the proliferation of handguns and semi-automatic assault weapons in the United States is a major health and safety threat to its citizens. Check out a recording of the panel here.

Updates from last week:
 

🚨 LD 1966 — County Clean Elections: This bill received a bipartisan majority "Ought to Pass as Amended" vote in committee to include Clean Elections for District Attorney races. It's been reported out of committee and now goes to the chamber floors. Contact your legislators now and ask them to support LD 1966! It only takes a few seconds; click here to get started. We know that Clean Elections public funding encourages more people to run for office and allows them to serve without being beholden to big donors or special interests – only to the voters in their own district.