Commentary
Does Prop 2 render National Popular Vote unconstitutional in Michigan?
Before Congress or the U.S. Supreme Court, National Popular Vote faces a roadblock: The Michigan Constitution
Per article 2, section 7 of the Michigan Constitution, election outcomes in Michigan are decided “soley by the vote of electors casting ballots in the election.” | Shutterstock
Michigan’s entry into the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact would be unconstitutional, a Mackinac Center review has found. And the provision that prevents it was passed by Michigan voters last year in Proposal 2.
Proposal 2 passed in Nov. 2022 by a 60-40 margin. As the House Fiscal Agency wrote in its analysis of Proposal 2022-2:
The proposal would add a provision to the constitution stating that the outcome of every election in Michigan must be determined “solely by the vote of electors casting ballots in the election.”
I wrote in April that faithful electors were the antidote to National Popular Vote. The interstate scheme would pledge all of Michigan’s electoral votes to the popular vote winner.
Those votes would be pledged even if the popular vote winner lost Michigan. House Bill 4156 would create the first loser-takes-all system in Michigan’s history.
But Michigan already has a faithful elector amendment in its supreme law. The people of Michigan approved it.
Not in the 1890s. Last November. The people of Michigan have spoken, and they want our elections decided “solely by the vote of electors casting ballots in the election.”
Electors’ votes must reflect the will of the people of Michigan. Not interstate schemes. Not acts of conscience.
The push for House Bill 4156 reflects no awareness of the provision. I debated State Rep. Carrie Rheingans, D-Ann Arbor, last week on Fox 2 Detroit’s Let It Rip on House Bill 4156. I work for a policy shop. Carrie is a lawmaker. Roop Raj and Charlie Langton are veteran TV news reporters. And none of the four of us spoke with an awareness of Article 2, section 7.
If Michigan will become a National Popular Vote state, it will take a constitutional amendment to that effect. Not an act of law, passed by two-seat majorities in each house. That shortcut was closed off by we, the people. It turns out we anticipated the 2023 Michigan Democrats.
For all Rheingans’ talk that the Electoral College is outdated, it’s actually a 2022 Michigan Constitutional amendment that will render National Popular Vote inert.
Hail the wisdom of crowds.
James David Dickson is managing editor of Michigan Capitol Confidential. Email him at dickson@mackinac.org.
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Does Prop 2 render National Popular Vote unconstitutional in Michigan?
Before Congress or the U.S. Supreme Court, National Popular Vote faces a roadblock: The Michigan Constitution
Michigan’s entry into the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact would be unconstitutional, a Mackinac Center review has found. And the provision that prevents it was passed by Michigan voters last year in Proposal 2.
Proposal 2 passed in Nov. 2022 by a 60-40 margin. As the House Fiscal Agency wrote in its analysis of Proposal 2022-2:
I wrote in April that faithful electors were the antidote to National Popular Vote. The interstate scheme would pledge all of Michigan’s electoral votes to the popular vote winner.
Those votes would be pledged even if the popular vote winner lost Michigan. House Bill 4156 would create the first loser-takes-all system in Michigan’s history.
But Michigan already has a faithful elector amendment in its supreme law. The people of Michigan approved it.
Not in the 1890s. Last November. The people of Michigan have spoken, and they want our elections decided “solely by the vote of electors casting ballots in the election.”
Electors’ votes must reflect the will of the people of Michigan. Not interstate schemes. Not acts of conscience.
The push for House Bill 4156 reflects no awareness of the provision. I debated State Rep. Carrie Rheingans, D-Ann Arbor, last week on Fox 2 Detroit’s Let It Rip on House Bill 4156. I work for a policy shop. Carrie is a lawmaker. Roop Raj and Charlie Langton are veteran TV news reporters. And none of the four of us spoke with an awareness of Article 2, section 7.
If Michigan will become a National Popular Vote state, it will take a constitutional amendment to that effect. Not an act of law, passed by two-seat majorities in each house. That shortcut was closed off by we, the people. It turns out we anticipated the 2023 Michigan Democrats.
For all Rheingans’ talk that the Electoral College is outdated, it’s actually a 2022 Michigan Constitutional amendment that will render National Popular Vote inert.
Hail the wisdom of crowds.
James David Dickson is managing editor of Michigan Capitol Confidential. Email him at dickson@mackinac.org.
Michigan Capitol Confidential is the news source produced by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Michigan Capitol Confidential reports with a free-market news perspective.
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