“As Franklin told us, we’ve got a Republic for as long as can keep it. That might not be much longer. . . . The single most effective way of keeping our Republic is embodied in the program of Making Every Vote Count. It effectively addresses the problem of a minority presidency; in fact, it would make it impossible. . . . I urge everyone to support Making Every Vote Count. It is the only way now imaginable to make our citizens equal to each other in that most important of civic spots: the voting booth. Without this vital reform, Franklin’s worst fears are likely to be realized. Let us not descend into that darkness.”
— Leslie Epstein, Novelist, Playwright, and Director of the Creative Writing Program at Boston University
“There is no time like the present for real progress. I hope now . . . voters will be motivated to take action against a long broken system.”
— Paul DeStefano
“If people do not believe their votes matter, and therefore do not vote, it is hard to see how to move forward as a country. Making Every Vote Count is not a partisan initiative. It’s a process to make our voices equal and to help us move forward together. We need it.”
— Hope Green, Former President & CEO of Vermont PBS
“Without this change in our law, we cannot call ourselves a democracy.”
— Clifford E. Anderson
“The winner-take-all feature means that citizens of populous states such as California, New York and Texas watch the most important elections from the sidelines, with little chance to attract political attention relative to “swing” or “battleground” states.”
— Professor Samuel Issacharoff, Bonnie and Richard Reiss Professor of Constitutional Law, New York University Law School
“No system is more fair than by popular vote. Any change to that is gaming the system.”
— Bo Baggs
“A National Popular Vote System is the most practical and promising way to fix the broken Electoral College system and save our democracy.”
— William E. Kennard, Former Chairman, Federal Communications Commission
“I support the popular vote.”
— Ramona Meredith
“Legitimate constitutional ‘workarounds’ to anachronistic features of the Constitution are a long-standing element in American history, and Making Every Vote Count’s effort to supplant the outdated Electoral College with a direct popular vote for President should be seen as one more step in that honorable tradition.”
— Professor Rick Pildes, Sudler Family Professor of Constitutional Law, New York University Law School
“My vote matters and every vote should be counted!!”
— Victoria Nicolls
“If all Americans are indeed created equal, then we must find a way to guarantee each American voter, certainly in every Presidential election if not in every other, that his or her ballot will matter just as much as anyone else’s.
We don’t tell mayoral voters who reside in New York City’s outer boroughs that their votes count any less than voters’ ballots in Manhattan; nor does anyone argue that gubernatorial votes in Monroe County, NY, should count any less than votes from Albany County.
And we owe it to each other not to allow anyone’s vote to matter less (or not at all) solely because he or she holds views shared by only a minority of voters in a particular neighborhood, city or state.
If we aspire to be one country in which all of us are truly guaranteed equal rights, then we must find a way to treat every ballot cast, especially every Presidential ballot, with the full weight it deserves. Each of us is entitled to nothing less.”
— Jonathan Bell, Partner, Stern Tannenbaum & Bell
“A national popular vote for President removes biases in our system of elections and makes our democracy more equal.”
— Greg Rosston, Director of the Public Policy Program at Stanford University
“Only once in living memory did Presidential candidates actually come to Wyoming. . . Wyoming voters, Democrat or Republican, simply aren’t seriously courted in Presidential campaigns. The same must be true for voters in, say, Massachusetts. We’re actually very far from every vote counting.”
— Chuck Herz, Former General Counsel of the National Science Foundation
“It is way past time for this reform. The country has the infrastructure to assure that every vote can count towards the selection of our one nationally elected official. The president should be elected by popular vote. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
— Sally Change
“Please establish democracy in the USA. Domestic and world peace is dependent on this fair and peaceful “revolution” of power by democratic elections.”
— Raymond Scruggs
“The electoral college biases campaigning, media attention, and policy towards a small number of pivotal states. A National Popular Vote System removes these biases and makes our democracy more equal.”
— Professor Andrew Hall, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Stanford University
“Let’s make democracy popular again!”
— Jacob White
“This is an ingenious and elegant solution to an issue that has been eating at the legitimacy of American presidential election — the gap, a bit too persistent — between the workings of the Electoral College and the popular vote. The result under the current system can seem whimsical and arbitrary and that’s hardly healthy for a complex democracy.”
— Monroe Price, Full Adjunct Professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communication; Professor of Law and Former Dean at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
“Majority rule works because it is transparent. Everyone understands it. Without it, we are likely to see increasing distrust in our political system.”
— Professor James Fowler, Professor of Political Science, University of California, San Diego
“No justification for the electoral college can withstand rigorous scrutiny. It is time to discard this long-outdated system that violates the core democratic principle of political equality and adopt one that reflects the will of the people.”
— Professor George Edwards, Distinguished Professor, Political Science, Texas A&M
“We should make every vote count — and support the education and understanding of science to judge truly what we’re voting for.”
— Barbara Herz, International economist and coauthor of What Works in Girls' Education
“We’ve had two blatant strikes against democratic process in presidential elections recently. Don’t need to wait for a third to begin to fix this faulty system.”
— Michael Reshetnik
“The heart of a strong democracy is the belief by citizens that the electoral system is fair because it is fair. Right now our Presidential election system is seriously flawed where Presidential candidates win the popular vote but lose the election. Making Every Vote Count deserves all of our support and certainly has mine.”
— Eugene Ludwig, Former Comptroller of the Currency, Founder & CEO of Promontory Financial Group
“Empowering every voter is a crucial step towards repairing our democracy. Until there’s a need to listen to a wider audience, politicians will continue prioritizing those states, corporations, and wealthy individuals who can help them win elections.”
— Brandon Tearse
“In a democratic republic, the candidate who gets the most votes should win.”
— Craig Bickle
“The electoral system worked well when our democracy was still young. The world changes fast - but our system stays the same. Now every voter can get as much information as he/she wants too. I strongly believe that electoral system is no longer needed: as matter of fact, I think that it outlived [its usefulness in] our modern and dynamic society already many years before. The time for change has come, and I am ready to fight for it! When, if not now?”
— Jana Langova
“We need every state to be involved in the Presidential election and not just a few.”
— Daniel Corbett
“With the way things are setup, people realize that the electoral college system just overrides their vote so they eventually feel like “why bother.””
— Jeff Mercer
“It’s time that we live up to our motto as a government “of the people, by the people, and for the people.””
— John Blair
“I have supported the National Popular Vote initiative ever since I discovered it last November but have been frustrated by so little interest in it. People just give up in front of the magnitude of the problem (“you need to amend the constitution”). Well, this is the easier way to go!”
— Terry Nantier
“Thank you for bringing the public’s attention to the elephant in the room. Without one person, one vote we do not have a true democracy.”
— Christy Kaiser
“We need to come up with positive ways to improve turnout and ensure people understand the importance of their vote. These initiatives are a step in that direction.”
— Professor Joshua Douglas, Robert G. Lawson & William H. Fortune Associate Professor of Law, University of Kentucky College of Law
“We are all Citizens of this great country. We all can (and should) vote. But right now . . . one person’s vote can be worth many times that of another – this is fundamentally unfair and undemocratic. I applaud this effort to ensure that “We the People” get to pick our President, not a handful of voters in a few select states. This is an essential movement for our time.”
— Eric Tilenius
“One person, one vote, all votes should count equally.”
