Below is my latest column for Liberty Ink Journal headquartered here in Northern Colorado. Regular listeners to my show and readers of this blog will recognize my scathing critique of National Popular Vote, which threatens our republic. I’ve been warning about this movement for years and now the threat is bigger than ever. Thank you for indulging me again as I champion the Electoral College.

National Popular Vote threatens our republic

By Amy Oliver Cooke

Few things are more irritating than Americans mistakenly labeling our county a “democracy” rather than a constitutional republic. The difference between the two is crucial. In a democracy, the majority rules, often at the expense of minority rights. In a republic, power is vested in individuals and is exercised through their elected representatives.

Sadly, many citizens simply don’t know the difference, probably because they have never been taught. But what about those who do know the difference, yet still make the same claim that we are a “democracy”? It’s more than irritating; it’s dangerous.

In a commencement address at Hampton University President Barack Obama said information has become “a distraction, a diversion” that puts pressure on “our democracy.”

Besides his obvious contempt for the first amendment, President Obama’s claim that we are a “democracy” is frightening because as a former constitutional law professor and someone who sworn to protect the constitution certainly he should know better. This was not just a slip of the tongue.

The “democracy” drumbeat from the Left is a calculated misunderstanding and vital to the supporters of a dangerous movement called National Popular Vote (NPV).

NPV is a wealthy, California-based group with a long, bitter memory of the 2000 presidential election. They are dedicated to destroying the Electoral College, one of the most brilliant and least understood institutions contained within the Constitution.

NPV would replace the current winner-take-all electoral system in most states with a nation-wide, popular vote compact. According to Save Our States, a bi-partisan defender of the Electoral College, NPV would require states “to ignore the result within their state and instead give all of their electoral votes to the candidate winning the most votes nationwide.” (In full disclosure, I am an active contributor to Save Our States.) When NPV is passed in enough states to add up to 270 electoral votes, the amount needed to win the presidency, the compact will go into effect.

NPV has no requirement for a majority vote or a provision for a runoff. To add insult to electoral injury, an NPV state conceivably could be forced to throw its electors behind a candidate that doesn’t even appear on its ballot.

Because the Constitution gives state legislatures the authority to decide how to award electors, NPV proponents can bypass the Constitution by cleverly introducing legislation in a number of state houses. Colorado has considered NPV legislation twice, once in 2007 and another time in 2009. Grassroots activism helped defeat it both times. (Colorado voters also soundly defeated a 2004 ballot measure to change how the state awards its electors from winner-take-all to a percentage of popular vote.)

To support NPV, one must believe the misguided notion that the United States is a democracy. If we were, the will of the states such as New York, California, New Jersey and Illinois could be thrust upon states like Colorado, Kansas, Utah, Tennessee and Kentucky.

Our Founding Fathers knew that states had different interests and did not want to see the desires of more populated states forced upon smaller ones. Thus, they created the Electoral College. The Electoral College forces presidential candidates and their supporters to campaign in a wide variety of areas, rather than concentrating on urban centers with large populations.

In the 2000 presidential election, the Electoral College did exactly what the Founding Fathers designed it to do. It didn’t matter that Al Gore had a popular vote plurality of less than one-half of one percent. (Thanks in part to the votes of California’s illegal aliens) It didn’t matter that Gore won the popular vote in both California and New York by huge percentages. To be president, he had to win a majority of the electoral votes, which means he had to win the popular vote in a wide variety of states.

If Gore had been able to win even a single southern or border state–such as his “home” state of Tennessee or Clinton’s home state of Arkansas, he would have been President. George W. Bush won the popular vote in 30 states, therefore giving him the necessary number of electoral votes to win the presidency. Middle America was able to avoid the tyranny of the East and West Coasts.

The Electoral College works, which is why it has not been changed in more than 200 years. It demonstrates our Founding Fathers’ commitment to the protection of minority rights, and the diverse interests of the entire nation–not just the biggest cities or states.

The brilliance of the Electoral College is lost on NPV proponents including Colorado’s Democrat party, which includes support for NPV and the abolition of the Electoral College in its party platform.

NPV does enjoy success in a few states. According to its Web site, four states – Hawaii, Illinois, New Jersey, and Maryland – with 61 electoral votes collectively have enacted the bill. It’s also making its way through state legislatures in both New York and Massachusetts. Together these two states have 43 electoral votes. If NPV is successful in both Massachusetts and New York, that’s 104 electoral votes, nearly 40 percent of what NPV needs to enact the popular vote compact – with just 6 states.

NPV is dangerous to our constitutional republic. Without the Electoral College, all a candidate has to do is win a plurality of the popular vote, even if that plurality comes mainly from a handful of mega-cities on the coasts. Under this scenario states like Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and Kansas can only watch as the East and West Coasts anoint our next president.

Amy Oliver Cooke is host of the Amy Oliver Show (www.amyolivershow.com) on 1310 KFKA. She is also a contributor to Save Our States www.SaveOurStates.com.

Last year the Democrats tried (and failed) to destroy the Electoral College. This year Speaker Terrance Carroll (D-Denver) wants to “reform” the entire process with a new bill that State Senator Kevin Lundberg calls the “voter fraud” bill.  According to the Denver Post, Carroll will introduce his legislation some time next week.  However provisions within the bill already have been made public including “pre-registration” for 16 year olds, almost same day registration, and mail-in ballots for all elections.

Adding insult to injury, Carroll simply dismisses the fact that voters soundly rejected a similar measure in 2002, “Eight years is a long time. Because something fails on the ballot at some time in the past doesn’t mean it’s off-limits.”

But here’s the kicker — the you-have-got-to-be-kidding-me-what-the-heck-are-they-thinking kicker: third party organizations will be allowed to pick up and deliver the ballots.  Think ACORN.  Think corruption.  Think Mickey Mouse will be voting in Colorado’s next election? I bet he’ll be registered.

Good news!  There is a new organization Save Our States with the sole mission of promoting the Electoral College throughout the country and defending it in states where it is threatened. Save Our States is the result of a group of concerned individuals from across the United States that came together to pool knowledge and resources to protect and promote the Electoral College.  I’m proud to one of them.

Regular readers know that I spent a good deal of time last spring in a fierce battle to save the Electoral College in Colorado.  Supporters of National Popular Vote, a.k.a. the Koza Scheme, including Senator Chris Romer and Representative Andy Kerr, almost got legislation through the General Assembly that would have rendered Colorado political impotent in presidential elections. Coloradans got wind of the disastrous plan and swamped lawmakers with phone calls and emails urging them to vote no on HB 09-1299.  Fortunately, good triumphed over paid lobbyists and the Electoral College survived.

So far in 2010, Save Our States has helped defeat National Popular Vote in Maine. Also our experts have visited Wisconsin and plan to testify in Alaska.  We have not seen NPV legislation thus far in Colorado but that doesn’t mean we won’t. Last year, it received late bill status meaning it was introduced after the regular deadline.  Please take time to educate yourself by visiting Save Our States.  Under the “STATES” tab, click on Colorado.  There you will some of my contributions.  This year we will be prepared — with Electoral College warriors.

Now that’s funny.  I just wish it weren’t so darn serious!  Check out Face the State’s 2009 Legislative Superlatives.  The most misguided legislator — State Rep Andy Kerr — won the honor of “most likely to get a Che tattoo” for his work on behalf of National Popular Vote, a.k.a. the Koza Scheme, and his insistance that the United States is a democracy.  Most frightening is that Kerr teaches “Social Studies.” Maybe he should learn history first.

I’m sure Rep Kerr is a nice guy but his lack of basic knowledge of American civics somehow should disqualify him from holding elected office.  Fortunately for Coloradans, Kerr’s disastrous legislation to destroy the Electoral College was killed in the Senate. 

Apparently a lot of you called the Capitol and gave him and his Democrat colleagues the business.  According to FTS, “His [Kerr's] sponsorship of the National Popular Vote bill this session sure upset a lot of people. And we mean a lot of people.”

Finally, check out who is just to the right of Kerr on the FTS Superlatives page.  Coincidence that one of Kerr’s biggest critics is next to him under the title of “Hottest Radio Host?” I hope not.

One of the worst pieces of legislation, HB 1299 designed to destroy the Electoral College, was killed in the Colorado Senate by its sponsor Sen. Chris Romer.  Apparently Romer didn’t have the votes to pass it.  Sometimes good does triumph over evil. 

Senate Minority Leader Josh Penry had this to say, “For those of us who think the founders plan to pick a president is enduringly wise, the defeat of this bill is a major accomplishment.” Penry added, “Attention Democrats: The 2000 election is over.  It’s time to Move-on.org.”     

While this is good news for Colorado, still the Electoral College is under assault in other states and across the country.  National Popular Vote, a.k.a. the Koza Scheme, has passed in Hawaii, Maryland, Illinois, New Jersey and Washington.  Several other states will consider destroying the Electoral College over the next few weeks.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve listed plenty of reasons to defeat the Koza scheme.  If you need more, below is the text of an op-ed I wrote that appeared last week in both the Denver Daily News and the Pueblo Chieftain.

If National Popular Vote wins, we lose

By Amy Oliver

This week the Colorado Senate will debate the relevance of our state in the next presidential election and the legitimacy of our nation as it considers HB 1299.

If passed, our state will join a compact of other states. All nine electoral votes will go the leader of the national popular vote, regardless of the will of Colorado voters. This end run around the Constitution is known as National Popular Vote or Koza scheme, named after multi-millionaire John Koza who concocted the plan to destroy the Electoral College in favor of a national popular vote without a constitutional amendment.

Ever since the 2000 election when Al Gore narrowly won the popular vote but lost the electoral vote to George W. Bush, some Democrats have been on a mission to destroy the Electoral College. It’s important to remember that had Gore been able to win even a single southern or border state–such as his “home” state of Tennessee or Bill Clinton’s home state of Arkansas, he would have been President. George W. Bush won the popular vote in 30 states, therefore giving him the necessary number of electoral votes to win the presidency. Middle America was able to avoid the tyranny of the East and West Coasts.

Inherent in this movement to rid the country of the Electoral College is a misguided notion that the United States is a democracy rather than a republic. Our Founding Fathers recognized the danger of a democracy where 51 percent rules 49, and thus created a republic where the rights of individuals are protected from the whims of the majority. The Electoral College is vital to maintaining our republic. It forces a presidential candidate to garner support that is both broad and deep, not concentrated on the coasts or urban areas.

Previous attempts to destroy the Electoral College in Colorado have been unsuccessful.

In 2004, a handful of Democrats bankrolled by a Brazilian millionaire asked Coloradans to change how the state awards its nine electoral votes. In a vote that wasn’t even close, nearly 66 percent of voters said, “NO!” and rejected proposed Amendment 36.

In 2007, Senator Ken Gordon introduced legislation that would force Colorado to be part of the Koza scheme. It passed the Senate but died in the House.

This year, State Representative Andy Kerr introduced the Koza scheme in the House where it passed on a 34-29 vote. It passed the Senate State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee along a party line vote and now awaits Second Reading in the full Senate.

Supporters of the Koza scheme are undeterred by arguments that the United States is a republic rather than a democracy and that Colorado will be little more than “fly-over” area during the next election. Perhaps supporters should consider other arguments.

For instance, what about a regional presidential candidate? A candidate could enjoy overwhelming support along the Eastern Seaboard and the Northeast and not even be on the ballot in Colorado. If he is the winner of the national popular vote, Colorado’s electoral votes would go to a candidate on whom Coloradans had no say.

Another problem is that no national standards exist about who can vote. In Vermont, a state considering the Koza scheme, a convicted felon serving time in prison can vote. In Colorado only those convicted felons who have completed their parole may vote. As a result, Colorado may have to award its electoral votes to the candidate that felons serving time in Vermont prisons support but that didn’t win the support of Colorado voters.

Also, political instability would be the rule rather than the exception especially in close elections as states demand recounts if their candidate of choice does not win the national popular vote. In Senate Committee testimony, University Law Professor Robert Hardaway concluded that had the Koza scheme been in place during the 1960 election between Democrat John Kennedy and Republican Richard Nixon, the country would have endured years of lawsuits with no declared presidential winner until the 1964 election. In this case, the Speaker of the House would serve as an interim president.

After the 1960 election, some Republicans called for the abolition of the Electoral College. It was the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY) who warned in 1979 that without the Electoral College,

“the drama, the dignity, and decisiveness and finality of the American political system is drained away in an endless sequence of contests, disputed outcomes, and more contests to resolve outcomes already disrupted….That is how legitimacy is lost.”

HB 1299 is not only bad for Colorado but also for our nation. Colorado legislators should ask themselves if it the Koza scheme is worth it. After all, power is cyclical.

According to my sources, HB 1299, National Popular Vote to destroy the Electoral College, still is waiting for second reading in the Colorado Senate.  Right now the budget is the main priority.  And ”since 1299 is controversial they [Democrats] will wait for the right political moment/day to consider it.”

Another news organization opposes Andy Kerr’s horrible legislation.  In Denver Times,the new internet news gathering site created by former Rocky Mountain News employees, writes “Make no mistake, there are good arguments to be made in defense of HB 1299 .”  The editorial goes on to state,

[W]ithout the Electoral College, those less populous states would become entirely redundant and cities would gain at the expense of rural areas, thus undermining the sort of broad-based consensus the current system supports. Also endangered by a move away from the Electoral College would be the stability of the two-party system and the separation of powers.

I have not found a reputable news outlet in Colorado that favors the Electoral College.

Supporters of the Electoral College have been saying that saving the institution should not be a partisan issue, but in Colorado it turns out that it is.  The Colorado Democrat Party Platform calls for the abolition of the Founding Fathers’ stroke of genius to maintain the delicate balance in our republic. 

On page six of their party platform Democrats state:  “We call for the replacement of the Electoral College with the direct election of the President and Vice President of the United States.  We support adoption of the National Popular Vote Bill in a compact with other states.”

I’m not surprised that the Democrats call for the abolition of the Electoral College.  It is vital to our republic but not to the “democracy” that the Colorado Democrats would like to force on all of us.  Now I know where Andy Kerr gets his vision of American government.  Page six also states, “trustworthy elections are a cornerstone of democracy.”  Either they never learned we are a republic, or worse, they don’t care.

I give Damon Agnos credit for being honest in his blog at the Seattle Weekly.  He is the first supporter of the Koza scheme (a.k.a. national popular vote) to admit truthfully the motive behind destroying the Electoral College.  Agnos writes, “a national popular vote would disempower the staunchly Republican farm states in the middle of the country.”   At least he doesn’t employ the “every vote should count” myth.

He also reports on two amendments that I suggest Colorado state senators opposed to Andy Kerr’s disastrous legislation to kill the Electoral College introduce next week before third reading.  The first amendment would require every state to have the same ballot.  As it stands now, states decide the process by which a candidate may petition to be on a ballot.  That means that not every presidential candidate is on the ballot in every state.  It’s difficult to have a national popular vote if we don’t have a national popular ballot.

The second amendment is more intriguing and possibly more controversial in Colorado.  Colorado could require that the only way it would join the Koza compact is if no states allowed incarcerated felons to vote.   For instance, Vermont, which passed Koza in both houses in 2008 before the Governor vetoed it, has no restrictions on convicted felons voting; they are allowed to vote from jail.  In Colorado, convicted felons may vote only after they have completed their parole.  Procon.org is a great source for differences between states on the voting rights of convicted felons.   Bottom line, unless all states adopt the same requirements for convicted felons voting (and I’d suggest standardized voter identification requirements too), then Colorado cannot enter into the Koza compact. 

These amendments might make next week’s debate interesting.

The Colorado Senate has delayed second reading of HB 1299, national popular nightmare, until Monday.

HB 1299 is scheduled for second reading in the Senate on Friday, April 3.  National Popular Nightmare or the Koza scheme likely will pass the Senate and wait for the Governor’s signature.

In the last few weeks I have discovered that supporters of this plan to render Colorado politically impotent are not impressed with arguments about federalism and Founding Fathers’ original intent.  Koza scheme supporter State Representative Claire Levy said as much when she made this frightening statement in a letter to Ross Kaminsky, “It [the Electoral College] prioritizes an unfounded notion of federalism over achieving the result that best reflects the will of the majority. “  You can read her complete response at www.rossputin.com.

Opposition to this nightmare is mounting.  The Denver Post opposed the Koza scheme in a house editorial.  I don’t believe a newpaper in the state has endorsed it.  Yet HB 1299 marches along despite the growing public outcry.