National popular vote discussion may reach both chambers

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – After weeks of quiet on the issue, the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact has hit the Capitol once again with a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday afternoon.

The sponsor of SB 1041, Sen. Dave Schatz, R-Sullivan, said making Missouri a part of the states that have already passed the compact would make the state matter again in presidential politics.

“I support this issue for one simple reason. It’s about fairness,” Schatz said. “It’s time we direct those electors to vote with the will of the nation.”

Schatz said certain battleground states affected presidential elections so much that Missouri had become an afterthought for campaigns willing to spend time, money and other resources in the state.

“You’re literally looking at the states that have been able to determine the focus of elections,” he continued. “Those battleground states determine elections… We have become insignificant, a flyover state. There are several flyover states that receive no attention at all.”

Schatz is member of a small group of Republican lawmakers, and one of the only Republican state Senators, that have made the national popular vote a cause which they champion. Democrats largely support the compact, but some Republicans fear that altering to a national vote style of electing the president could make rural areas more insignificant.

“Why wouldn’t you just campaign in California and New York?” Sen. Ed Emery, R-Lamar, said. “The population resides in the states with the most electoral votes… I’m just trying to envision how Missouri becomes more important under this scheme.”

Others fear that it could detract from the framework of the U.S. Constitution. Sen. Bob Dixon, R-Springfield, chairs the committee. He pointed out that the interstate compact, while legal, was a runaround of sorts which favored a smaller number of states approving of the compact than it would take to amend the Constitution to reform or replace the Electoral College.

“But you arrive at the same place,” he said. “It seems like an end run around the amendment process, [and] I’m just not settled in whether it’s acceptable to make that end run.”

A similar measure by Rep. Tony Dugger has an executive session Thursday morning.