After assuming the majority in their legislatures, Democrats in New Mexico and Colorado are proposing a plan to bypass the Electoral College and give the presidency to the candidate who earns the most votes nationally.
Critics of the National Popular Vote movement argue it would disenfranchise voters in less populous states and force candidates to focus their campaigns on big cities.
The NPV strategy avoids a constitutional amendment process. States would simply allocate their Electoral College votes to the winner of the national popular vote.
The Washington Free Beacon reports NPV measures already have advanced in the Colorado Senate and the New Mexico House.
TRENDING: Greatest Show on Earth: The Hur report hearing
WND reported earlier this week on the lurch to the far left in Colorado where lawmakers are proposing a plan to teach LGBT lifestyles to young public school students.
The state's new governor is Jared Polis, who spent a decade in the U.S. House promoting gay rights.
Election expert Hans von Spakovsky of the Heritage Foundatio calls the NPV compact "unconstitutional and bad public policy."
"It would undermine the protections of the Electoral College, elevating the importance of big urban centers like New York and Los Angeles while diminishing the influence of smaller states and rural areas," he said. "That was a major reason for establishing the Electoral College in the first place: to prevent elections from becoming contests where presidential candidates would simply campaign in big cities for votes."
Under the present allocation of Electoral College votes, which could change depending on population shifts, the NPV would predetermine the result of any national election if California (55), Texas (34), New York (31), Florida (27), Pennsylvania (21), Illinois (21), Ohio (20), Michigan (17) and North Carolina, New Jersey and Georgia (15 each) agreed.
That would be 271 Electoral College votes, unbeatable by the totals from the other 39 states.
Shepherd reported there already are 11 states involved, although not the ones with the biggest populations. Their current vote total is 172, and it rise to 186 with Colorado and New Mexico.
How would it cancel votes?
"For example, if Idaho had been in the compact in 2016, and if the compact were in force, the state's four Electoral College votes would have been cast for Hillary Clinton even though Donald Trump beat her by more than a two-to-one margin there, because Clinton won more votes nationwide," the Free Beacon reported.
The Free Beacon reported there is foundation for criticism of the plan.
Rob Natelson, a constitutional scholar in Colorado published a lengthy argument against the NPV, the Free Beacon reported.
Natelson wrote: "In deciding how electors are appointed, state lawmakers may choose among a range of procedures. But they have a constitutional duty to choose a method consistent with the electoral system's purpose and design. Attempting to convert electors into agents of other states – like selling them to the highest bidder – would be an unconstitutional breach of public trust."
Bill Clinton was elected with only 43 percent of the popular vote, but 370 electoral votes. Presidents who won the popular vote but lost the election were Andrew Jackson, Grover Cleveland, Al Gore and Hillary Clinton.
The late conservative icon Phyllis Schlafly a few years back,once said the NPV is trying to "achieve the longtime liberal goal of getting rid of the Electoral College" without a constitutional amendment, which would be nearly impossible to obtain.
She said the NPV "is a scheme to deviously bypass the grand design of our U.S. Constitution."
"If the NPV lobbyists can get enough states whose votes in the Electoral College total at least 270, they will be able to steal votes away from some candidates, transfer those votes to another candidate and thereby construct a fake majority in the Electoral College," Schlafly said.
"The NPV slogan 'Every Vote Equal' is dishonest because the NPV proposal is based on legalizing vote-stealing. For example, Texas or Louisiana could be forced to cast its votes for a candidate who won more votes in other states, such as New York.
"People who pretend that the Electoral College system is undemocratic are not only ignorant of the history and purposes of the U.S. Constitution, but they probably don't even understand baseball. Basing the election on a plurality of the popular vote while ignoring the states would be like the New York Yankees claiming they won the 1960 World Series because they outscored the Pirates in runs 55-27 and in hits 91-60. Yet, the Pirates fairly won that World Series, 4 games to 3, and no one challenges their victory.