The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact has 18 states plus Washington, D.C., totaling 222 electoral votes. It takes effect only at 270 of 538. Democrats took control of legislatures and governorships in five states that have not joined.
The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is an agreement among states and the District of Columbia to award all their electoral votes to the presidential candidate who wins the nationwide popular vote. Currently, 18 states plus Washington, D.C. have signed on, totaling 222 Electoral College votes. That total is short of the 270 electoral votes a candidate needs to win the presidency.
The compact does not take effect until states totaling a majority of all Electoral College votes, 270 of 538, have joined. It does not change the U.S. Constitution. Formally abolishing the Electoral College would require a constitutional amendment, but the compact is a workaround that needs none.
On Tuesday, Democrats took control of state legislatures and governorships in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin and Nevada. None of those five states has agreed to the compact.
