The push to effectively sideline the Electoral College just picked up a significant boost from Virginia. The Guardian reports that Gov. Abigail Spanberger on Tuesday signed a bill tying the state's electors to the winner of the national popular vote, making Virginia the 18th state (plus Washington, DC; check out a map here) to join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. This move brings the group's total to 222 electors—48 short of the 270 needed for the arrangement to take effect. Under the compact, member states would all award their electoral votes to the nation's popular-vote winner, regardless of who carried each state.
"This [effort] started 20 years ago and it's been slow and steady ... constant forward momentum across these 20 years," a Dem consultant who's been working on the National Popular Vote Project tells NPR. "This is on the 5-yard line of making this a reality." So far, all participating states lean Democratic, though similar bills have been introduced in a number of battleground states, including Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
Backers say the Constitution gives state legislatures broad authority over how electors are chosen, and that congressional approval isn't needed unless federal power is infringed. The idea is more popular with voters than not: A 2024 Pew survey found that 63% of Americans favor moving to a national popular vote. Supporters note that two of the last four presidents, George W. Bush and Donald Trump, both Republicans, took office without winning the most votes nationwide. Not everyone is a fan of the national-popular-vote concept, however.
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