LANSING – The Board of State Canvassers last week approved petition language that would have Michigan join a National Popular Vote compact. Yes on National Popular Vote of Michigan would enter Michigan into a national popular vote agreement, effective when adopted by states which combined have over half the electoral college votes for president, requiring each member state to select presidential electors based on the candidate receiving the most votes nationwide.
Currently, Michigan’s electors select the candidate that won the state. The Electoral College meets in mid-December where all state electors cast their votes. Forty-eight states (including Michigan) and Washington, D.C. use the state popular vote to decide which candidate gets all Electoral College votes. Maine and Nebraska use a proportional vote.
“From a policy standpoint, I’m against the national popular vote for a number of reasons,” Republican board member Tony Daunt said. “I hope ultimately that the issue fails and it does not receive enough support in the state of Michigan.”
The petition was announced and is being promoted by both former Michigan Republican Party Chair Saul Anuzis and former Michigan Democratic Party Chair Mark Brewer.
Proponents argue that the compact will ensure candidates for President will focus on national issues, not regional turf battles that could tip the electoral college margin in their favor.
Supporters of the National Popular Vote say it ensures that every vote, in every state, will matter in every presidential election.
Biden’s Detroit Visit Celebrates EV Innovation, Infrastructure, Future Of America
After taking the stage in a new Detroit plant for electric vehicles (EVs), President Joe Biden said future historians will gaze back at this moment and ask: “Did America win the competition for the 21st century?”
“I’m betting on America. I’m betting on the American people. We’ve got to focus on what made this nation great. I have no problem with (the Wall Street) bankers and others — fine. But they didn’t build America,” Biden said during his Michigan remarks. “The middle class built America and unions built the middle class.”
Last Wednesday, Biden toured General Motor Co.’s freshly opened Factory Zero EV plant, where he was able to take the new Hummer pickup EV for a cruise. During his excursion through the plant, Biden said if he’d “been asleep for the past 50 years,” woke up and saw General Motors’ new vehicles, he would swap “title for title” with his favorite 1967 Corvette.
“That Hummer is one hell of a vehicle, man,” Biden said later that evening, during his formal speech at the plant. “When you see these projects starting in your hometowns, I want you to feel the way I feel — pride in what we can do when we’re together as the United States of America, and it starts here in Detroit.”
Small Business Association of Michigan
