Legislation and the Electoral College

HB 1719 -- Interstate Compact on the Agreement Among the States to Elect the President by National Popular Vote Act -- is unconstitutional.

Under the Constitution, the highest-ranking U.S. officials elected by direct popular vote of the people are the governors of the states. Furthermore, the people were empowered to choose, by direct popular election, the men and women who represent them in their state legislatures and in the U.S. Congress.

The Founders had no desire for a single entity to have unlimited power. As a part of their plan to separate powers and authority, the Founders created the Electoral College as the method by which the people would choose their highest government leader, the president. They felt this would avoid some of the dangers of a direct election.

Article 2, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution grants the power to elect the president and vice president to the states through the Electoral College system.

This prevents the people from directly electing the president of the United States. Since this was an enumerated right retained by the federal government, the Tenth Amendment does not apply. Any change to the Electoral College system for electing the president will require an amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The speaker of the Missouri House of Representatives must withdraw this unconstitutional bill before it goes any further in the legislative process.

DAVID A. LARSON, Jackson