On Tuesday New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed S03149 making New York the eleventh jurisdiction to join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. New York’s 29 electoral votes bring the compact’s total to 165, or 61% of the 270 votes needed to activate the compact.
The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC) was started in 2001 as a way to elect the President of the United States by popular vote without requiring an amendment to the United States Constitution. The Constitution specifically affords state legislatures control over process by which their electors are selected. Furthermore the Supreme Court decision Virginia v. Tennessee (1893) creates a precedent for states entering into binding compacts with each other without Congressional approval. States that pass legislation to join the NPVIC agree to select electors for the winner of the national popular vote (rather than the winner of their state) but with the compact only taking effect once enough states have joined to account for 270 electoral votes.
Below is a summary of current bills related to this issue. Although New York is the only state to join the NPVIC so far this year several other states have introduced legislation. Connecticut’s HB05126 was favorably referred out of committee in March and Oklahoma’s SB906 has successfully passed the Senate and is under consideration by the House. Despite its momentum the NPVIC is not without criticism. Oklahoma and Utah have both introduced bills specifically supporting the current implementation of the electoral college and New Jersey, a member of the NPVIC, has introduced a bill to remove the state from the compact.
| Bill | Purpose | Last Action | Last Action Date | Action Count |
| AZ – SB1189 | Join NPVIC | Referred to Senate GE Committee | 1/28/2014 | 6 |
| CT – HB05126 | Join NPVIC | File Number 134 | 3/26/2014 | 9 |
| ME – LD511 | Join NPVIC | Placed in the Legislative Files. (DEAD) | 4/3/2014 | 31 |
| MI – SB0291 | Join NPVIC | Referred To Committee On Local Government And Elections | 4/10/2013 | 2 |
| MI – HB5344 | Join NPVIC | Printed Bill Filed 02/21/2014 | 2/25/2014 | 4 |
| MN – SF585 | Join NPVIC | Referred to Rules and Administration | 2/21/2013 | 2 |
| MN – HF799 | Join NPVIC | Author added Newton | 2/25/2014 | 15 |
| NE – LB1058 | Join NPVIC (Nebraska currently allocates by congressional district) | Schilz name added | 4/1/2014 | 10 |
| NJ – A2827 | Quit NPVIC | Introduced, Referred to Assembly Judiciary Committee | 3/10/2014 | 1 |
| NJ – S1681 | Quit NPVIC | Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate State Government, Wagering, Tourism & Historic Preservation Committee | 3/17/2014 | 1 |
| NY – S03149 | Join NPVIC (passed) | signed chap.19 | 4/15/2014 | 18 |
| NY – A09350 | Elector allocation by congressional district | referred to election law | 4/16/2014 | 1 |
| OK – SB523 | Join NPVIC | Second Reading referred to Rules | 2/5/2013 | 3 |
| OK – SB906 | Join NPVIC | Second Reading referred to Rules | 3/17/2014 | 15 |
| OK – HR1047 | Maintain electoral college | Authored by Representative Wesselhoft, Bennett, Cleveland, Fisher, Kern, Moore, Murphey, Reynolds, Ritze | 3/4/2014 | 2 |
| PA – HB94 | Elector allocation by congressional district | Referred to STATE GOVERNMENT | 1/14/2013 | 1 |
| PA – HB1182 | Join NPVIC | Referred to STATE GOVERNMENT | 4/15/2013 | 1 |
| UT – HB0299 | Maintain Electoral College | House/ filed in HFILE | 3/13/2014 | 16 |
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