Twice failed Democratic Congressional candidate Jim Mowrer (defeated badly by Congressman Steve King in 2012 and Congressman David Young in 2016) has launched a PAC today that would destroy Iowa’s influence in the presidential election not to mention our Republic.
His PAC, The Majority Rules, focuses on getting states to adopt a compact that would circumvent the Electoral College by encouraging states pass laws that would allocate electors based on the National Popular Vote.
Politico’s Morning Score reported this morning:
The PAC, Majority Rules, will back candidates for office and ballot initiatives intended to support states’ adoption of the so-called “National Popular Vote” initiative, which has already been adopted in 10 states. Mowrer will begin his effort by targeting Oregon and Connecticut as the next states to join the compact.
His PAC released the following video:
We already covered why this would be an asinine move, here are some reasons why switching to a National Popular Vote is a colossally bad idea.
First the method they are using subverts the Constitution. If Mowrer wants to get rid of the Electoral College they should work toward a constitutional amendment. The NPV contract also ignores the will of the people in the state. For instance Mowrer wants Iowa’s electors to go to Hillary Clinton since she had the most votes nationally even though Donald Trump trounced her in the state. Doesn’t he see this as disenfranchisement?
The Electoral College decentralizes control over the election. On election day we literally have 51 separate presidential elections with different election codes. Because of this having just one national pool of voters would be unfair as each state has different laws regarding early voting, voter registration, qualifying for the ballot, felon voting, and different recount triggers. This could negatively impact voters in another state, and if you think the potential for lawsuits is bad now just wait if NPV goes into effect.
Plus the potential for voter fraud to adversely impact the election increases under NPV. With the Electoral College it is very difficult to anticipate in what states ballots need to appear and disappear, under NPV they don’t need to be concerned about that at all.
Plus the National Popular Vote encourages a candidate to concentrate their efforts in the biggest cities and the biggest states. Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by just shy of 3 million people. She won California by 3 1/2 million.
Mowrer as an Iowan should support the Electoral College as it keeps us relevant and it makes sure that our issues are heard by the candidates. I know he’s trying to find some way to remain relevant until he can run for Congress again (presumably in Iowa’s 1st Congressional District this time), but he should find something to do that actually serves Iowa’s interests instead of sabotaging our influence.
