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Republican Legislature Opposes National Popular Vote in Letter to Michigan Voters

Photo: Frederic J. BROWN / AFP via Getty

LANSING, October 19, 2021 ~ Last week, 57 members of the Michigan House and Senate signed a joint letter, opposing the plan for Michigan to award its electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote, regardless of who won the popular vote within the state of Michigan.

The letter comes after a ballot proposal committee announced the Yes on National Popular Vote of Michigan petition in late September, which aims to push for Michigan to join the national popular vote compact.

It is imperative that the candidate who receives Michigan’s electoral votes is determined by Michiganders — and not by votes in other parts of the country,” said the legislators in the letter. “Simply put: Michigan’s votes for president must only be determined by Michigan’s voters.”

I think the current system is particularly beneficial to Michigan. We saw both Biden and Trump in the state quite a bit, because we were a swing state, and received plenty of attention from presidential candidates, and presidents,” said Michigan Senator Aric Nesbitt. “It’s particularly odd that we would give up this benefit to join into a compact to diminish our influence, and really give California and New York the power to determine which candidate receives our electoral college votes.”


October 19, 2021 ~ State Senator Aric Nesbitt (R-Lawton) talks with Kevin Dietz why he doesn’t support a national popular vote.

The so-called ‘National Popular Vote’ proposal would permanently disenfranchise every voter in the state, forcing Michigan to cast its presidential elector voters for whoever wins the national popular vote — even if the voters of Michigan overwhelmingly chose someone else,” read the letter. “It’s a disastrous idea, and one that should remain on the scrapheap of American history.”

Currently the District of Columbia, as well as 15 states, have introduced similar legislation to base electoral votes on the national popular vote.

This proposal would give big cities on the East and West Coast veto power over voters in Michigan,” read the letter.

Los Angeles and New York City alone would have more say than the entire state of Michigan in a National Popular Vote.”

The petition still needs to go through the Michigan Board of Canvassers for approval before signatures can be collected.