EDITORIAL: Effort to undermine the Electoral College dead for now

The Legislature is more than two-thirds through its 120-day session. Like teenagers, legislators need deadlines to help keep things moving along. This month, most bills needed to pass out of their first committee or they would die.

One of the bills that failed to survive was Assembly Joint Resolution 6, a proposed amendment to the Nevada Constitution. It would have put the Silver State into the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. It’s a scheme to bypass the Electoral College and elect the president by popular vote.

States participating in the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact agree to give their electoral votes to the candidate who wins the most votes. It doesn’t go into effect until states with a combined total of at least 270 electoral votes — the total needed to win a presidential election — join it. So far, 17 blue states and Washington, D.C., have joined the compact with a combined total of 209 electoral votes.

One way to pass a constitutional amendment in Nevada is for the Legislature to pass such a proposal twice. Then it must be approved by voters. In 2021, the Legislature approved AJR6. In order to send it to the ballot, the Legislature would have had to pass it again this session. Instead, it didn’t receive a hearing. That means the proposal is dead, absent late-session shenanigans.

That’s a good thing. Leave aside logistical concerns such as California counting ballots weeks after Election Day. The Electoral College is an important institution, particularly for small states such as Nevada.

A state’s electoral votes equal the number of its House members plus its two senators. Because California has 52 congressional seats, it has 54 electoral votes. With four seats in the House, Nevada has six electoral votes. A candidate wins the presidency by securing 270 of the possible 538 electoral votes. This forces candidates to campaign in swing states such as Nevada and has a moderating effect on politics. Donald Trump couldn’t win by racking up massive vote totals in the Southeast. Kamala Harris couldn’t just campaign in deep-blue states such as California or New York. Winning candidates must appeal to swing voters, often in less-populated states.

This benefits Nevada. If the president were elected by popular vote, Nevada would become largely irrelevant. Candidates would bypass this state for California. This is why former Gov. Steve Sisolak, a Democrat, vetoed a bill to join the compact in 2019.

The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is a proposal that deserves to stay dead.