Delaware General Assembly

Out of Committee 6/16/10

The General Assembly has ended, the current status is the final status.

6/4/09

D.E. Williams

Sen. Katz

Reps. B. Bennett, Brady, Q. Johnson, Kowalko, Mitchell

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 15 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE AGREEMENT AMONG THE STATES TO ELECT THE PRESIDENT BY NATIONAL POPULAR VOTE.

This act enters Delaware into an interstate compact known as the Agreement Among the States to Elect the President by National Popular Vote. Article II of the U.S. Constitution gives the states exclusive and plenary authority to decide the manner of awarding their electoral votes. Under the compact, the state agrees to award its electoral votes to the presidential ticket that receives the most popular votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The compact goes into effect when states cumulatively possessing a majority of the electoral votes have joined the compact. A state may withdraw from the compact; however, a withdrawal occurring six months or less before the end of a President's term shall not become effective until a President and Vice President have been qualified to serve the next term. Specifically, this act (1) Permits any State of the United States and the District of Columbia to become a member of the compact; (2) Requires each member of the compact to conduct a statewide popular election for President and Vice President; (3) Requires the chief election official of each member state to determine the number of votes cast for each presidential slate in each state of the United States and in the District of Columbia in which votes have been cast in a statewide popular election and to add such votes together to produce a "national popular vote total" for each presidential slate; (4) Requires the presidential elector certifying official of each member state to certify the appointment in that official's state of the elector slate nominated in that state in association with the presidential slate that had the largest national popular vote total; (5) Requires, at least six days before the day fixed by law for the meeting and voting by presidential electors, each member state to make a final determination of the number of popular votes cast in the state for each presidential slate and to communicate an official statement of such results to the chief election officer of every other state; Requires the chief election official of each member state to treat any such statement received from another state as conclusive; (6) Provides that, in the event of a tie for the national popular vote winner, the presidential elector certifying official of each member state shall certify the appointment in that official's own state of the elector slate nominated in association with the presidential slate receiving the largest number of popular votes within that official's state; (7) Provides that if the number of presidential electors nominated in a member state in association with the national popular vote winner is less than or greater than that state's number of electoral votes, the presidential candidate on the presidential slate that had the largest national popular vote total shall have the power to nominate the presidential electors for that state and that state's presidential elector certifying official shall certify the appointment of such nominees; (8) Provides that this compact will govern the appointment of presidential electors in each member state in any year in which the agreement is, on July 20, in effect in states cumulatively possessing a majority of electoral votes; (9) Provides that the compact shall take effect when states cumulatively possessing a majority of the electoral votes have enacted the compact in substantially the same form and the enactments in such states have taken effect in each state; (10) Permits any member state to withdraw from the agreement, except that a withdrawal occurring six months or less before the end of a President's term shall not become effective until a President and Vice President have been qualified to serve the next term; (11) Requires the Governor (or the Mayor in the case of the District of Columbia) of each member state to notify the Governor (Mayor) of all other states when the compact has been enacted and has taken effect in that official's state, when the state has withdrawn from the compact, and when the compact takes effect generally; (12) Provides that the compact shall terminate if the electoral college is abolished; (13) Defines various terms for the purposes of the compact; and, (14) Provides that if any provision of the compact is held invalid, the remaining provisions shall not be affected.

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Takes effect upon being signed into law

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