The 2020 ballot may have a question to repeal National Popular Vote Compact in Colorado

An organization called Coloradans Vote has gathered enough signatures to submit an application to repeal the National Popular Vote Compact, which was signed into law by Gov. Jared Polis on March 15.

The National Popular Vote Compact pledges to award a state’s electoral votes to the winner of the popular vote in presidential elections. However, it only goes into effect when the collective number of electoral votes within the compact reaches 270 — the majority required to win a presidential election. With the addition of Colorado, the NPVC now has 196 votes.

Coloradans Vote — which was established in reaction to Polis’s signature — began their repeal effort the following day on March 16.

Frank McNulty, an advisor affiliated with the organization, told KRDO that they have collected over 185,000 signatures. This far exceeds the requisite 125,000 needed to submit the application, but McNulty says they aim to collect a total of 200,000 signatures as a safety net.

“The Secretary of State tends to kick out a few signatures,” says McNulty. “If people don’t write down the correct address or misspell their name.”

Coloradans Vote has until August 1 to submit their appeal to the Colorado Secretary of State, Jena Griswold. If signed, the repeal would appear on the 2020 ballot, and the organization would begin efforts to educate the public on their platform.

McNulty explains that their supporters are concerned that a national popular vote would give their voice to states like California, New York, and Illinois, which have larger populations and thus more electoral votes. Another concern is voter fraud on a national level, which may be harder to identify and isolate than fraud at the state level.

One other worry from petitioners is that Colorado would get far less attention from presidential candidates.

“Colorado has historically seen a lot of action from presidential candidates,” says McNulty. “If the popular vote law is enacted we would not see as many, if any, visits from presidential candidates. They’d have no reason to come here.”

In U.S. history, five elections have been won by parties that lost the national popular vote. The most recent instance of course was Donald Trump’s win in the electoral college over Hillary Clinton’s popular vote win.

If the repeal application is certified for the 2020 ballot, this will be the first time since the Great Depression that Colorado voters will decide to repeal or reaffirm a law signed by the governor. The last time was in 1932 when voters repealed a law that had raised taxes on margarine.