Getting rid of the Electoral College requires either amending the Constitution or working around it. A constitutional amendment under Article V is the direct route and has failed more than 700 times. The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is the workaround: states pledging their electors to whoever wins the national popular vote, effective only once participating states control 270 electoral votes. Short of abolition, states can change how they allocate their own electoral votes. Each path is legally available; none is politically easy.
Amending the Constitution
Article V sets the bar. A proposed amendment must clear two-thirds of the House and two-thirds of the Senate, then be ratified by three-fourths of the states, meaning at least 38 of 50.1Brookings Institution. Its Time to Abolish the Electoral College More than 700 proposals to modify or eliminate the Electoral College have been introduced in Congress over two centuries. None has been ratified.2Britannica. Electoral College Debate
The closest attempt came after the 1968 election. House Judiciary Chairman Emanuel Celler pushed an amendment to replace the Electoral College with a direct popular vote, with a runoff if no candidate reached 40 percent. The House passed it 338–70 in September 1969, with Speaker John McCormack and Republican Leader Gerald Ford both supporting it.3History, Art & Archives, U.S. House of Representatives. Electoral College Reform It died in the Senate in 1970, blocked by a filibuster led by Strom Thurmond and James Eastland.4MinnPost. How the Filibuster Was Used 51 Years Ago to Keep the Electoral College A 1934 Senate proposal fell two votes short, and a 1979 Senate vote failed by three.1Brookings Institution. Its Time to Abolish the Electoral College
Members still introduce abolition amendments. Representative Steve Cohen of Tennessee filed joint resolutions in 2019, 2021, and again in December 2024, calling the system an “archaic vestige” of an 18th-century compromise.5Office of Congressman Steve Cohen. Congressman Cohen Introduces Resolution to Abolish Electoral College Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon introduced a similar amendment in 2019 as part of a broader democracy package.6Office of Senator Jeff Merkley. Merkley Introduces Legislation to Ensure Equal Representation for Every American None has cleared committee.
The math explains why. Smaller states benefit from the two-senator bonus that inflates their per-capita electoral influence, giving their legislatures little reason to ratify away that advantage. With the issue increasingly partisan, the two-thirds congressional threshold is a steep climb, and 38 state legislatures is steeper. The Heritage Foundation calls the bar a “seemingly insurmountable impediment.”7The Heritage Foundation. The Current Threat
The Convention Alternative
Article V also permits two-thirds of state legislatures, currently 34, to apply for a constitutional convention that could propose amendments without Congress. The mechanism has never been used. All 27 existing amendments came through Congress.8National Constitution Center. Article V Interpretations No pending state applications specifically target the Electoral College.9Congressional Research Service. The Article V Convention to Propose Constitutional Amendments Fear of a “runaway convention” proposing amendments beyond its original mandate has kept states from pursuing this route.
The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact
Because amendment is so hard, reformers built a workaround. Under the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, participating states agree to award all their electoral votes to whichever candidate wins the national popular vote, regardless of who carried the state. The agreement takes effect only once states controlling at least 270 electoral votes have signed on.10National Popular Vote. State Status
The legal theory rests on Article II, Section 1, which lets each state legislature appoint electors “in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct.” Supporters read that as full state discretion to bind electors to the national result.11Congressional Research Service. The National Popular Vote Initiative
Where the Count Stands
Virginia became the 19th jurisdiction to join on April 13, 2026, when Governor Abigail Spanberger signed HB965.12National Popular Vote. Virginia13Virginia Legislative Information System. HB965 The compact now includes 18 states plus the District of Columbia, representing 222 electoral votes, still 48 short of activation.14NPR. Virginia Popular Vote Compact Bills have passed at least one chamber in seven additional states worth a combined 74 electoral votes.10National Popular Vote. State Status Members joined over nearly two decades, starting with Maryland in 2007 and growing to include California in 2011, New York in 2014, and smaller states like Vermont and Delaware.15Council of State Governments. National Popular Vote Interstate Compact
Legal Vulnerabilities
No court has ruled on the compact because it has not taken effect. If it reaches 270, litigation is nearly certain. The main constitutional objections:
- The Compact Clause. Critics argue the arrangement is an interstate agreement requiring congressional consent under Article I, Section 10. Supporters answer that consent is unnecessary because elector appointment is a state power.11Congressional Research Service. The National Popular Vote Initiative
- End-run around Article V. Opponents contend the framers deliberately rejected direct popular election and that the compact bypasses the only legitimate process for changing the system.16BYU Law Review. Why the National Popular Vote Compact Is Unconstitutional
- Combination among states. A Harvard Journal on Legislation analysis argues the Electoral College was designed to prevent states from joining together to influence presidential outcomes, and the compact facilitates that exact combination.17Harvard Journal on Legislation. Combination Among the States: NPVIC Unconstitutional
- Voting Rights Act concerns. Some critics say the compact could dilute minority voter influence in covered jurisdictions; supporters say it aligns with the Act’s purposes.11Congressional Research Service. The National Popular Vote Initiative
What Chiafalo Did and Didn’t Settle
In Chiafalo v. Washington (2020), the Supreme Court unanimously held that states may enforce laws requiring presidential electors to vote for their pledged candidate, including through fines or removal.18SCOTUSblog. Opinion Analysis: Court Upholds Faithless Elector Laws Justice Elena Kagan wrote that a state’s power to appoint electors “in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct” includes conditioning appointment on a pledge.19Supreme Court of the United States. Chiafalo v. Washington, 591 U.S. (2020)
Compact backers point to this as confirmation of sweeping state authority over electors. Skeptics note the Court leaned heavily on the historical practice of electors voting for the candidate who won their own state. The compact requires the opposite: an elector voting against the state’s popular choice when a different candidate wins nationally. That scenario has no historical precedent and the Court did not address it.20University of Chicago Law Review. Does Chiafalo v. Washington Bolster the Case for the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact? Not So Fast
Changing the System Without Abolishing It
Several proposals aim to blunt the Electoral College’s most-criticized features while leaving it in place. States can pursue most of these on their own, without a constitutional amendment or a national compact.
The Congressional District Method
Maine and Nebraska already use this approach. Each awards one electoral vote to the popular-vote winner in each congressional district and two to the statewide winner.21National Archives. Distribution of Electoral Votes The split has affected recent results: Barack Obama won one Nebraska vote in 2008, and Donald Trump won one Maine vote in both 2016 and 2020.22270toWin. Split Electoral Votes: Maine and Nebraska
Bills to adopt the method have been introduced in Wisconsin, Michigan, and New Hampshire but stalled. In Nebraska, Republican lawmakers have repeatedly tried to repeal the split and return to winner-take-all; a 2016 effort was defeated by filibuster, and later attempts remained stuck in committee as of early 2026.23Nebraska Public Media. Nebraska and Maine Split Their Electoral Vote: Is It a Better System Than Winner-Take-All Critics warn that going national with the district method could worsen distortions because congressional districts are subject to partisan gerrymandering. Analysis of the 2000 election found George W. Bush would have won 53.5 percent of electoral votes under a nationwide district plan despite losing the popular vote.24FairVote. Flawed Alternatives to the National Popular Vote Plan for Electoral Reform
Proportional Allocation
Each state’s electoral votes would be split in proportion to the candidates’ shares of that state’s popular vote. Supporters call this the fairest reflection of voter preferences. It brings its own problems: rounding fractional votes, setting minimum qualification thresholds, and the persistent chance that the national popular vote winner still loses because of the two-senator bonus that inflates small-state totals.24FairVote. Flawed Alternatives to the National Popular Vote Plan for Electoral Reform
The National Bonus Plan
A hybrid keeps the 538 existing electoral votes and adds 102 bonus votes awarded as a block to the national popular vote winner. The total becomes 640 with a winning threshold of 321, designed to virtually guarantee the popular vote winner also wins the Electoral College.25Congressional Research Service. The Electoral College: Reform Proposals in the 107th Congress
Ranked-Choice Voting
Ranked-choice voting does not eliminate the Electoral College. It addresses the spoiler problem, where third-party candidates siphon enough votes in battleground states to change the outcome. Voters rank candidates, and low performers are eliminated in successive rounds until one candidate reaches a majority. Alaska and Maine currently use RCV for presidential elections.26National Civic League. How Ranked Choice Voting Could Improve Presidential Elections Legal scholars have proposed pairing RCV with the National Popular Vote Compact so the compact’s winner reflects majority rather than plurality support.27Harvard Law & Policy Review. Ranked Choice Voting and the National Popular Vote
Why Change Has Stalled
Public opinion has favored a popular vote for decades, but the coalition supporting change has narrowed. In the 1960s and 1970s, roughly 70 percent of both Republicans and Democrats supported moving to a popular vote.28Gallup. Americans Favor Replacing Electoral College System By September 2024, Pew found 80 percent of Democrats and 46 percent of Republicans in favor.29Pew Research Center. Majority of Americans Continue to Favor Moving Away From Electoral College A Gallup poll the same month put overall support at 58 percent, with 82 percent of Democrats and 32 percent of Republicans backing change.
That partisan gap is the obstacle. An amendment needs bipartisan support in Congress and in three-quarters of state legislatures. The compact, though closer to its goal than ever, has largely stopped adding states outside the Democratic column, leaving it 48 electoral votes short and facing near-certain litigation the moment it activates. State-level reforms like the district method have moved in only two states, and one of them keeps trying to move back. The system devised as a compromise in 1787 stays in place not because most Americans defend it, but because the tools for changing it require exactly the kind of consensus the country no longer produces on this question.