Another Blow To The Electoral College
The National Popular Vote effort, which could see only 14 states – those with the largest populations – decide the presidency for voters in all 50 states, is more than halfway to its goal of legally bypassing the electoral college mapped out in the Constitution.
Last week, the Maine state senate voted in support of the plan one week after both houses of the New York legislature – the assembly and senate – overwhelmingly approved a measure to support the plan.
Now the governors of both states will need to decide whether to formally back the National Popular Vote, or NVP.
The plan is more than halfway to its goal of electing future presidents via the popular vote, after Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee (D) signed on last July.
The NPV campaign seeks to obtain the consent of the majority of the 538 votes in the Electoral College –270 – to award their electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote.
Now 10 jurisdictions possessing 136 electoral votes are part of the plan – 50.4% of the 270 electoral votes needed to bring the National Popular Vote interstate compact into effect.
The states will not be required to award their electoral votes to the national popular vote winner until the NPV has signed up enough states to garner 270 electoral votes.
The Founding Fathers firmly rejected a purely popular vote to elect the president because they wanted to balance the power of the larger states against the smaller.
The Electoral College was fashioned as a compromise between an election of the president by direct popular vote and election by Congress.
The NPV effort could change the way Americans vote without amending the U.S. Constitution. The plan simply requires that enough states sign up.
It would take three-quarters of the states to pass a constitutional amendment to repeal the Electoral College. NPV minimizes the number of states that would need to agree. Once enough states agree to allot their electoral votes to the national popular vote winner, the Electoral College would become irrelevant.
La Raza Affiliate Receive $30 Million From Government
The recipient of a $30 million grant as part of President Obama’s “promise zone” initiative is an affiliate of the radical National Council of La Raza.
A group called the Youth Policy Institute, or YPI, was approved by the Obama administration as the lead agency for Los Angeles when the city was selected by the White House and Department of Education two years ago to receive “promise zone” grants.
To little fanfare, YPI was awarded a $30 million grant in January 2012 as the “promise zone” recipient for Los Angeles.
The organization is slated to receive potentially tens or even hundreds of millions more, with the “promise zone” program pledging up to $500 million in grants over ten years purportedly to help revitalize central Los Angeles neighborhoods.
Promise Zone is Obama’s signature education and anti-poverty program aimed at transforming schools and communities “into vibrant centers of opportunity and excellence.”
Unreported by the news media is that the Youth Policy Institute is an affiliate of the National Council of La Raza, or NCLR.
La Raza is directly tied to the White House. Cecilia Munoz, former senior vice president at La Raza, now serves as director of the White House Domestic Policy Council with specific focus on immigration issues.
La Raza itself highlighted its relationship with YPI in a press release in January boasting about the Obama administration grant.
YPI was selected by La Raza in 2011 as its affiliate of the year. YPI is funded by La Raza, while YPI utilizes La Raza to finance AmeriCorps members working in eight L.A. schools. AmerciCorps is a national service organization.