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National Popular Vote Passes Colorado House – Moves to Governor’s Desk for Signature

“I’ll have my pen ready,” Governor Jared Polis tells audience in Fort Collins
Macie May
Macie May
Colorado State Capitol
Colorado State Capitol (Photo by Karen Corliss/ Longmont Observer)

This content was originally published by the Longmont Observer and is licensed under a Creative Commons license.

The National Popular Vote bill, which would guarantee the presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes across all 50 states and the District of Columbia, passed the Colorado House on Thursday. Having been approved by both the House and Senate, the bill now moves to Governor Jared Polis, who last week told an audience at Blevins Middle School in Fort Collins, “I’ll have my pen ready” (to sign) when the measure reaches his desk.

When the bill becomes law, Colorado will become the 13th jurisdiction to join the National Popular Vote interstate compact.

Since the National Popular Vote movement began in 2006, eleven states and the District of Columbia – altogether totaling 172 electoral votes – have passed the National Popular Vote bill. That is just 98 electoral votes short of 270 necessary to elect the president. With Colorado’s nine electoral votes added, just 89 more would be required for the National Popular Vote interstate compact to take effect.

“The Colorado legislature, Governor Polis, and the people of Colorado are to be congratulated for taking a giant step toward making every voter in every state politically relevant in every presidential election,” said John Koza, Chairman of National Popular Vote. “Under a national popular vote, the 38 non-battleground states long ignored by presidential campaigns will be powerful again, because no candidate can win 270 electoral votes and the White House without also winning the popular vote across all fifty states and the District of Columbia.”

The National Popular Vote interstate compact will go into effect when enacted by states possessing a majority of the electoral votes necessary to elect a president – 270 out of 538.  In December, when electors meet to cast their ballots for president and vice-president following a presidential election, the electoral votes of all the compacting states would be awarded in a package to the candidate who receives the most popular votes across all 50 states and DC.

In 2006, the Colorado Senate became the first state legislative body in the nation to pass the National Popular Vote bill. The Colorado House went on to pass the bill in 2009. The National Popular Vote bill has since passed at least one house in 11 states possessing a total of 89 electoral votes. Altogether, 3,199 state legislators across all 50 states have endorsed the National Popular Vote bill. The New Mexico House of Representatives passed the National Popular Vote bill on February 1st, and several more state legislatures are expected to consider the measure as they convene in 2019.