Congressional Record, Volume 162 Issue 170 (Tuesday, November 29, 2016)

[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 170 (Tuesday, November 29, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6531-S6533]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

ELECTORAL COLLEGE

Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I rise today to discuss legislation I
introduced to eliminate the Electoral College and ensure that the
candidate who wins the most votes will be elected President. Clearly,
this has nothing to do with this past election. There are recounts
going on, and we will see where that goes, but the bottom line is that
this looks to the future.
The Presidency is the only office in America where the candidate who
wins the most votes can still lose the election. There isn't any
elected office in the Nation, be it county, city, State, or national
level, where this is true. The person who gets more votes--one person,
one vote--wins, but that is not true in the Presidential election.
I realized how little sense this made many years ago, but when I
tried to explain it to my grandkids after this election, they said:
Grandma, who won? Well, I told them, Donald Trump. Well, wait a minute,
didn't Mrs. Clinton get more votes? Yes.
What if we did that in sports? I am a major basketball fan. What if
the team that got the most points didn't win? What if that happened?
What would people think? Well, why not? Well, because not everybody on
the team touched the ball, therefore--even though they won by 40
points--they don't win.
This doesn't make sense. This is an outdated system that does not
reflect democracy, and it violates the principle of one person, one
vote. Every single American, regardless of what State they live in,
should be guaranteed that their individual vote matters. Throughout our
great history, we have had--this is the 45th President--five elections
where the winner of the general election did not win the popular vote,
but in our lifetime it has happened twice. We have had two in the last
16 years, and so it really needs to be addressed. This is more than an
anomaly. It looks like it could happen one way or the other. We don't
know if a Republican or a Democrat gets seated.
Right now, Hillary Clinton's lead in the popular vote is 2.3 million
votes. It is expected that she will win by probably more than 2.7
million votes. That would be more than the votes cast in Alaska,
Delaware, Washington, DC, Hawaii, Vermont, and the Dakotas combined. We
are not talking about a few votes; we are talking about 2.7 million
votes--more than the votes cast in Alaska, Delaware, Washington, DC,
Hawaii, Vermont, and the Dakotas combined. Clinton would have won the
popular vote by a wider margin than not only Al Gore in 2000, but
Richard Nixon in 1968 and John Kennedy in 1960.
In 2012 Donald Trump said, ``The electoral college is a disaster for
democracy.'' I couldn't agree more. I don't agree with too much of what
Donald Trump says, but I sure agree with that. He said, ``The electoral
college is a disaster for democracy.''
After the election, his views did not change:

``You know, I'm not going to change my mind just because I
won. But I would rather see it where you went with simple
votes.''

These are all quotes of his.

``You know, you get 100 million votes and somebody else
gets 90 million votes and you win.''

After he said that, I think his advisers went a little nuts because
by the next morning, he tweeted that the electoral college system was
``actually genius.'' Then he also tweeted this, which was very
interesting: ``If the election were based on the total popular vote, I
would have campaigned in New York, Florida, and California and won even
bigger and more easily.''
OK. Maybe that is true. Maybe that is true. His point is well-taken.
Presidential candidates should campaign in every single State.
Actually, if we got rid of the electoral college, candidates would have
to campaign in every State because the vote of every American would
matter regardless of where they live. If you get all the popular vote
in one State, you will add to your popular vote at the end.
According to nationalpopularvote.com, 94 percent of campaigning by
the Presidential candidates in 2016 took place in 12 States--12 States.
That was it. Two-thirds of these general election campaign events took
place in six States.
In 2015 Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin said: ``The nation as a whole
is not going to elect the next president. Twelve states are.'' Just
think about that. ``The nation as a whole is not going to elect the
next president.''
He was right when he said that in 2015. He was right.
So what message does that send to the people who live in the populous
States, like my State, where 39 million Americans live? What message
does that send to the 27 million Americans who live in Texas? What
message does

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that send to the smaller States, like North Dakota and Rhode Island,
where the candidates don't even bother to campaign for the votes
because they are either blue or red? They are not purple, so they don't
matter. No wonder voter turnout was just 58 percent in this election.
Too many Americans don't believe their vote matters because they are
told: Oh, you live in a red State. It is going to Trump. Even if you
are for Trump, just stay home.
It is ridiculous. Maybe that person really wanted to vote, but they
are convinced that if they live in a bright red State like Alabama,
they don't have to vote because it is going for Trump, and if they are
for Hillary Clinton and they live in a reliably blue State, they may
think: Well, you know what, I am not interested. Why should I bother?
My State is blue. What is the difference?
So we have a 58-percent voter turnout. It is altogether ridiculous.
Political science experts agree that too many Americans feel their vote
doesn't count. It just doesn't count.
Listen to Doug McAdam, professor of sociology at Stanford University,
who asked, ``What about all those citizens who live in noncompetitive
states?''
He makes my point:

``Consider the loyal Republican who lives in California or
the stalwart Mississippi Democrat? Every four years, voting
for them is an exercise in political powerlessness, at least
when it comes to the presidential race.''

What is the difference? Hillary is going to win by so much. Don't
worry about it.
But if we were using the popular vote, believe me, every Republican
would get out and every Democrat would get out and every Independent
would get out because their vote would count.
Every 4 years, a lot of people in different States feel their vote
doesn't matter. They feel powerless when it comes to the Presidential
race--the only race in the country where the winner doesn't win, maybe.
The winner doesn't win. It is crazy. I looked all over to find another
example where this is true; it is not true.
William Crotty, professor emeritus of political science at
Northeastern University, said that the electoral college ``has never
worked well. The fact is that it is a terrible system that has no place
in an age where democracy is ascendant. It continues to exist from
sheer inertia and the protection of entrenched power. It has little to
do with democracy.''
Well, everybody knows I didn't run again for the Senate. I have a
fabulous replacement coming. But I did drop this bill to do away with
the electoral college because I am still a Senator, I am still here,
and I will be darned if I am going to let this thing pass.
Listen to a professor of law at Fordham University, John Feerick:

``Not only have reasons for the Electoral College long
since vanished but the institution has not fulfilled the
design of the framers. Today it represents little more than
an archaic and undemocratic counting device. There is no good
reason for retaining such a formula of electing the president
of the United States.''

Well, I also saw a poll which shows that 62 percent of the people in
this country, regardless of party, think we should do away with it and
go to a system where the winner wins. How unique--the winner wins and
the loser loses. That is the way it should be in the greatest democracy
in the country.
Try explaining this to your kids and grandkids. I am telling you, if
they are about 11 or 12, explain what happened.
I know changing the system won't be easy. I have been around a long
time. I have spent more than half of my life in politics in elected
office. So we understand that the legislation would need to be enacted
by Congress and would only take effect after being ratified by three-
quarters of the States within 7 years after its passage. This is very
difficult. This is a constitutional amendment. So I am not naive, and I
understand what we are talking about.
But there is another way to address this; it is called the National
Popular Vote plan. It would guarantee that the Presidential candidate
who wins the most votes would win the election and be the President,
whether it is Donald Trump getting the most votes or Hillary Clinton
getting the most votes, et cetera. All it requires is for enough States
to act. It is an interstate compact where the States would agree to
award their electoral votes to the Presidential candidate who wins the
popular vote.
So in California, where we have a number of electoral votes, if
Donald Trump wins, they go to Donald Trump regardless of how our State
voted. In other words, the votes are counted and then the States give
their electoral votes to the winner of the popular vote--pretty simple.
So you still have the electoral college, but the result is that the
votes are given to the person who wins the national popular vote. The
agreement takes effect only once the participating States together hold
a majority of electoral votes; that is, 270 out of 538 electoral votes.
So far, the National Popular Vote bill has been enacted into law by
10 States and the District of Columbia, adding up to 165 electoral
votes. The legislation has been introduced in every State in the
country, and it has support on both sides of the aisle because electing
the person who wins is the democratic way.
Trump supporter Newt Gingrich wrote a letter in 2014 endorsing the
idea. He wrote:

``No one should become president of the United States
without speaking to the needs and hopes of Americans in all
50 States. . . . America would be better served with a
presidential election process that treated citizens across
the country equally.''

Former Republican Congressman Bob Barr said:

``Only when the election process is given back to all of
the people of all the states will we be able to choose a
President based on what is best for all 50 states and not
just a select few.''

I will make a point that I don't agree with Newt Gingrich on pretty
much anything except this. This is rare. Newt Gingrich said Medicare
should wither on the vine. He called Democrats traitors. Believe me, I
served with him, I know. And his ethical standards don't meet what I
think the standards should be. But setting that aside, here we are on
the same side.

I urge my colleagues to take a close look at the legislation I have
introduced, and I urge State legislators and Governors around the
country to take a close look at the National Popular Vote bill.
Again, I am going to be honest, it is really hard to pass a
constitutional amendment. I am not naive about it. But to pass a law in
various States isn't that hard. That should be done. The American
people can help. I ask them to call their Senators and Members of
Congress about our bill. There is a bill in the House being introduced
by Charlie Rangel to do away with the electoral college--very simple--
and just let the popular vote stand. Ask them to sign on to this bill,
but don't stop there. Write and call your representatives in the State
house and push for your State to sign on to the interstate compact.
A lot of people have come up to me after this election and said: You
know, I don't feel my voice is heard, period.
This is one of the reasons. Well, make your voice heard on either
getting rid of the electoral college or the State compact where the
State would give its votes to the winner of the national popular vote.
Voting is the cornerstone of democracy. We have had men and women
through the decades die for the right to vote. Many generations of
Americans of every gender, race, religion, and ideology have marched
and struggled and died to secure this fundamental freedom. Yet we have
a system where the winner can lose.
We owe it to the American people who have given so much for the right
to vote to make sure that every vote matters and every vote counts. We
owe it to them to ensure that the vote of a citizen in my State is
worth the same as a vote of someone in a swing State. We owe it to
every Republican voter and every Democratic voter and every Independent
voter, every Green Party voter--whatever the party--to have that vote
count. One person, one vote is the cornerstone of democracy.
By making this critical change where the winner of the popular vote
wins and every citizen's vote counts regardless of who they are, where
they live, whether they are a Republican, Democrat, or a decline-to-
state or Green or

[[Page S6533]]

whatever party they choose, we would then be engaging voters in every
single State. We will lift voter turnouts. We will ensure that every
Presidential candidate speaks to the needs of Americans in every State
and every region. We will ensure equal representation for all.
You know, sometimes I come down here and I talk about issues that are
very controversial. I must tell you, if you ask anyone on the street
``Do you think the winner of the popular vote should win the
Presidency?'' I would say a very strong majority would say ``Of
course.'' If you ask them ``Do you know of any office in the land,
whether it is Governor, mayor, supervisor, city council, sewer board,
sanitation district, you name it, where the winner doesn't win?'' they
will say ``No, I can't think of any.'' You know what, there are none.
So why not do the simple thing and the right thing and the just thing
and make sure that the winner of the popular vote is sworn in as our
President. I think this will be a huge boon for every single voter in
this greatest of all countries.

I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maryland.

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