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US inches closer to change in how presidential elections are counted

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by Addy Bink - 04/26/26 11:30 AM ET

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by Addy Bink - 04/26/26 11:30 AM ET

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(NEXSTAR) – Efforts to end or alter the Electoral College have existed for years, but one state has brought the U.S. closer to a critical threshold that could change how votes are counted in 2028.

A candidate requires 270 electoral votes to be elected president of the United States. These votes are winner-take-all in each state, with the exception of Maine and Nebraska.

Virginia recently became the 18th state to enact legislation that would instead assign its electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote. If just a handful of other states join the pact in the coming months, the Electoral College as we know it could become obsolete.

“I think this is a very straightforward, long-term plan to get us to a point where the United States is frankly what most people think it is, which is a place where every person’s vote counts the same as every other person’s vote,” Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger said after signing legislation to add the state to the National Popular Vote Compact. “Unfortunately, that is not the case when it comes to presidential elections, where by virtue of having the Electoral College, depending on the state you live in, your vote does count differently.”

Why the Electoral College is criticized – and complicated

While intended to be a “compromise,” settling concerns of those who feared corruption and a less-informed public, the Electoral College hasn’t been without pushback. Experts point to the need for a candidate to win in fewer than half of the states to secure a victory.

In the roughly eight months leading up to the 2024 presidential election, for example, there were more than 200 campaign stops. Roughly three-quarters of those stops happened in one of seven states, the Associated Press reported. It’s a frequent trend, with candidates spending more time in battleground or swing states and skipping those states in which they believe they’ve already won or lost.

The Electoral College has also been criticized over the outcomes of a handful of elections.

Ballots in the presidential election are prepared for certification during a joint session of Congress to confirm the Electoral College votes, affirming President-elect Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Presidents John Quincy Adams, Rutherford B. Hayes, Benjamin Harrison, as well as George W. Bush and Donald Trump in their first terms, did not win the national popular vote. They instead won the crucial states necessary to secure victory through the Electoral College.

More than 6 in 10 Americans in a Pew Research survey, conducted before the 2024 election, said they would prefer the presidency to be won by the candidate who garners the most votes. Only about a third of Americans said they prefer keeping the Electoral College. Surveys stretching back to 2000 have largely produced the same results.

Can the Electoral College be changed?

There have been hundreds of proposals to overhaul the Electoral College, but it’s complicated. The House of Representatives in 1969 passed a measure to switch to a popular vote system that would use a runoff election if necessary. It failed in the Senate.

Any major change to the Electoral College – like, say, abolishing it – would require the Constitution to be amended, but there hasn’t been enough support or motivation to do that, Dr. Patricia Crouse, a professor of Public Administration and Political Science at the University of New Haven, tells Nexstar.

Crouse co-wrote a paper, published in the 2014-2015 edition of “State and Local Government,” that analyzed the National Popular Vote Compact and states’ rights.

How would the National Popular Vote Compact work?

Instead of pursuing an amendment, Virginia and 17 states have opted to alter how their electoral votes are assigned, essentially circumventing the Electoral College. These states have enacted legislation to join the National Popular Vote Compact.

Sometimes referred to as the NPV, the compact would call for the votes of a participating state to count toward the presidential candidate that wins the national popular vote.

The compact is expected to take effect after there are enough states signed on to account for at least 270 electoral votes, Patrick Rosenstiel, a senior consultant for the National Popular Vote, explained to Nexstar via email. This has to happen by July 20 of a presidential election year, he explained.

Then, following the election that November, the electoral votes of the included states will be awarded to the candidate who receives &ldquo