Americans Outraged by Shocking Electoral College Law That Could Render Their Presidential Votes ‘Null and Void’

AMERICANS have erupted over a bombshell anti-Electoral College law which threatens to cancel their presidential votes.

Anger is mounting after blue state Virginia signed a law which effectively bypasses the Electoral College with a new national popular vote.

Virginia has joined a slowly growing list of states that hope to decide America’s president by popular voteCredit: Getty Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger (Dem) has signed the controversial billCredit: AP

Virginia has now joined 17 other states and the District of Columbia to approve a bombshell pact on future presidential electoral votes.

Abigail Spanberger, the state’s Democratic governor, on Monday signed controversial legislation which threatens to make the state’s votes “null and void,” warned Virginia Republicans.

The party also slammed her move as “an unconstitutional assault on our democracy.”

She has agreed to award the state’s presidential electoral votes to whoever wins the national popular vote across all 50 states and the District of Columbia, rather than Virginia’s own winner.

“Democrats just took away Virginia residents’ voting rights,” warned one opponent on social media.

“Essentially whoever wins the national popular vote wins Virginia — regardless of how Virginians vote.”

It is an “unconstitutional attempt to reform the Electoral College,” warned a legal expert, who predicted it would eventually be “struck down by courts.”

The bill, HB965 , has entered Virginia into a new interstate compact known as the Agreement Among the States to Elect the President by National Popular Vote.

Under the proposed pledge, each state would allocate all its electoral votes to whoever wins the national popular vote for president, regardless of how individual states voted in an election.

The National Popular Vote (NPV) campaign was launched after Democrat Al Gore won the popular vote, but lost the 2000 election to Republican George W. Bush after electoral votes were tallied.

The Compact was launched after Democrat Al Gore (right) won the popular vote, but lost the 2000 election to Republican George W. Bush (left)Credit: Reuters

However, the pact will only take effect after states with a collective 270 electoral votes — the number needed to win the presidency — agree to join it.

It is now 48 votes short of reaching that point.

If enough states commit to the proposed change, it would alter America’s voting system to one where the winner of the nationwide popular vote wins the presidency, despite a state’s results.

The voting overhaul has yet to be set in stone, though, as it hasn’t as yet hit the benchmark magical number of 270, mainly because states aren’t rushing to join the campaign, which started about a decade ago.

The addition of Virginia has only bumped the figure up to a total of 222 electoral votes, reported NPR .

However, the compact has sparked fierce debate – with some voters fearing that it will destroy the Electoral College, which makes sure that smaller states aren’t ignored when choosing the president.

Also, some experts have predicted that the compact is “a constitutional crisis–in–­­waiting.”

“It lurks in the shadows and must be addressed before it has the chance to alter a presidential election and take away any and all effective electoral power from as many as 39 states,” warned Patrick C. Valencia in Harvard Law School’s Journal on Legislation .

Valencia, Iowa’s Deputy Solicitor General, said the compact would result in an “impermissible fundamental alteration to the Electoral College.”

He accused supporters of “usurping” historic and constitutional electoral procedures.

“The Compact goes against the spirit of the Constitution” which, if successful, will wipe out “guarantees of protection to the small states that the Constitution formalized,” Valencia added.

He said the “repugnant” proposed reform “should be struck down by courts” when and if it succeeds in securing enough signatories to possess at least 270 electoral votes before it takes full effect, “and converts the Electoral College into a de facto direct popular election of the President.”

One man said on social media that it would render future voting in the state pointless.

“This is the end of voting in Virginia by Virginians,” he wrote today.

“At minimum this means they will not be permitted to participate in presidential elections.

“More likely this will be challenged and quickly defeated in court. It is a total denial of individual rights to vote.”

But Spanberger defended joining the interstate agreement.

She told a press conference it would help the United States become a country “where every person’s vote counts the same as every other person’s vote.”

“That is certainly the case in our elections at the state level,” she added, reported WFXR .

“It is certainly the case in our elections for federal offices such as House of Representatives or US senator, where every single person’s vote counts the same.

“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.”