NY Joins Pact to Elect Presidents by Popular Vote

New York has joined an interstate agreement to award its electoral votes to whatever presidential candidate wins the national popular vote. 

New York is the 11th state to join the compact. 

The National Popular Vote movement would guarantee the Presidency to the presidential candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states (and the District of Columbia). "The bill preserves the Electoral College, while ensuring that every vote in every state will matter in every presidential election," according to the organization's website.

Now 11 jurisdictions possessing 165 electoral votes have signed on—California, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.

"New York pledges to award its 29 electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote in ALL 50 States plus the District of Columbia, but only to take effect once enough other states have passed identical legislation so that the compact possesses a majority of the Electoral College’s 538 votes," Cuomo said in a press release.

The total number of votes needed in the Electoral College to elect a president is 270.

Under the U.S. Constitution, the states have the power to allocate their electoral votes, and may change their state laws concerning the awarding of those votes at any time. 

Lawmakers said this new method would be more fair, avoiding undue emphasis on early primaries and swing states and giving more weight to issues that matter to more voters. 

Only seven states mattered in the 2012 presidential election, according to the organization's website.