Podcast Summary: Facts Matter – "After Virginia Bill Passes, Compact to Eliminate Electoral College is Now 82 Percent Complete"

Host: Roman (The Epoch Times)
Date: April 22, 2026

Episode Overview

In this episode, host Roman investigates the accelerating movement to effectively eliminate the Electoral College in U.S. presidential elections via the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC). With Virginia recently joining as the 18th state, Roman explains how the compact has already achieved 82% of the electoral votes needed to override the traditional Electoral College, shifting presidential elections to be determined by the national popular vote. He lays out the mechanics, motivations, constitutional debate, and the looming prospect of significant change in American federal elections.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Virginia Joins the NPVIC: The Current Status

Virginia's Move: Virginia has become the 18th state to pass an NPVIC bill, bringing the compact to 222 electoral votes—over 82% of the 270 needed.
Mechanism: When states representing at least 270 electoral votes join, they agree to give all their votes to the candidate who wins the national popular vote.

“Unbeknownst to most people, there is a serious effort in this country to make the federal presidential election a matter of just a simple popular vote… already 82% complete, meaning the Electoral College is truly at risk of getting completely scrapped in the very near future.”
—Roman [00:23]

2. The Constitutional ‘Loophole’

Constitutional Framework: Article 2, Section 1 gives states the authority to decide how electors are chosen.
Working Around an Amendment: This compact is seen as a way to sidestep the difficult process of amending the Constitution, which would otherwise be necessary to abolish the Electoral College.

“You would need to amend the US Constitution, which is realistically not possible. There is not enough support… So what opponents… have done instead is use this backdoor way.”
—Roman [02:27]

3. What Is the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC)?

Definition and Function:
- An agreement among participating states to allocate their electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote rather than the state's own popular vote.
- Dormant until states representing 270 electoral votes are on board.
Leading Advocate: John Koza, described as “a California millionaire,” is sponsoring and largely funding the NPVIC effort.

“Their plan is to get state governments to ignore how their own citizens vote in presidential elections and instead get them to cast their electoral votes based on the National Popular Vote.”
—Roman [04:01]

4. Status and Political Geography of the Compact

Participating States (17 + DC): Maryland, New Jersey, Illinois, Hawaii, Washington, Massachusetts, Vermont, California, Rhode Island, New York, Connecticut, Colorado, Delaware, New Mexico, Oregon, Minnesota, Virginia, and DC—totaling 222 electoral votes.
Activation Threshold: 270 electoral votes required; only 65 votes short.
States Considering NPVIC: Arizona, Kansas, Pennsylvania, South Carolina (all have bills in committee).

“Right now, the NPVIC is missing only 65 electoral college votes… a trend that’s 82% of the way there.”
—Roman [09:39]

5. Potential Effects if Enacted

Systemic Shift: If NPVIC reaches 270 votes, future presidential elections would be decided by the national popular vote, not state-by-state results.
Power Shift: Political clout may move from rural states to population centers; candidates could focus their campaigns on large cities, potentially neglecting less populous states.

“Whoever is able to win, basically the masses of the big cities will be able to win the presidency, while the people living in the more rural states… probably not see any presidential candidates visiting them moving forward.”
—Roman [08:40]

6. Constitutionality and Legal Debate

Proponents’ Argument: Article 2, Section 1 grants states “plenary power to appoint electors in such manner as the legislature thereof may direct.”
Opponents’ Argument: The Compact Clause of the Constitution may require congressional approval for such multistate agreements and potentially other legal issues.

“This compact being a potential violation of the compact clause of the US Constitution… ‘no state shall, without the consent of Congress, enter into any agreement or compact with another state…’”
—Roman [11:18]

Pending Legal Clarity: No legal challenge has yet occurred, but lawsuits are expected if NPVIC ever reaches the activation threshold.

7. Open Questions and Public Engagement

Debate Prompt: Roman asks listeners to consider whether the NPVIC represents a truer expression of the popular will or undermines the founder’s intent to shield small states from majority rule.

“Do you believe that it does… represent more of the will of the people… or do you believe that it basically is exactly what the founding fathers hoped to avoid… disenfranchising Wyoming as an example?”
—Roman [14:37]

Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

On the Loophole:
“Opponents of the Electoral College system have been using this as a sort of loophole to backdoor destroy it.” [02:05]
On Consequences:
“Just the logistics of it would make it such that nobody would need to visit Wyoming, which is unfortunate because that’s exactly what the Electoral College system was hoping to avoid.” [15:20]

Important Timestamps

00:23 — Explanation of the NPVIC and the risks to the Electoral College
02:27 — Constitutional basis for state power regarding electors
04:01 — John Koza’s campaign and intentions behind NPVIC
08:40 — Potential impact on rural vs. urban states
09:39 — Status update and states considering NPVIC
11:18 — Legal debate over the Compact Clause
14:37 — Open questions about the wisdom and impact of the NPVIC
15:20 — The risk of small states being ignored

Tone & Language

Roman maintains a factual, explanatory tone with a slightly cautionary edge, emphasizing both the practical mechanics and the deeper constitutional issues at stake. The episode is structured to inform and provoke thought and debate, remaining true to the “no spin, no favorites” approach of the podcast.

Takeaway

The NPVIC has advanced rapidly and, while mostly under the radar, could dramatically reshape U.S. presidential elections very soon. Key questions remain about its constitutionality and potential effects on American democracy and federalism. The host invites listeners to reflect critically and engage with the pivotal national debate.

Transcript

A (0:00)

Last week, Virginia became the 18th state in the nation to pass a bill which will effectively eliminate the Electoral College. You can, in fact, see the governor of Virginia right there signing that new bill into law with much glee and excitement. Unbeknownst to most people, there is a serious effort in this country to make the presidential election, the federal presidential election, a matter of just a simple popular vote. And even though most people have never heard about this effort, it's. It's actually already 82% complete, meaning the Electoral College is truly at risk of getting completely scrapped in the very near future. And the ironic thing about it is that it's not necessarily unconstitutional. Instead, this method is using a loophole in the way that the Constitution set up our dual federalist system. This effort, it's officially called the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, otherwise known as the npvic. And, and what it basically is, it's an agreement between the states that join this compact to give their collective electoral votes to whichever candidate happens to win the popular vote at the national level. You see up on your screen right there is a map of the Electoral College votes across the US and this map is the most recent map based on the 2020 census. Every state has an Electoral College vote equal to the number of representatives that they have in Congress. And so, for instance, if you take the state of Texas, they. They have two senators as well as 38 members of the House, and therefore they have 40 votes in total in the Electoral College. Now, the way that the Electoral College has evolved over the years is kind of a long story in and of itself, but relevant to our discussion today. It's worth highlighting that every individual state gets to decide for themselves. That is, the state legislature in that state gets to decide how to apportion their votes, meaning the state legislatures in each state get to decide how to divvy out their Electoral College votes. And so, at this moment, the way it works in practice is that whoever wins the plurality of votes in a given state, meaning whoever wins the popular vote statewide, gets that state's Electoral College votes. That's true for all states, except for two. In Nebraska and Maine, they actually split up their Electoral College votes based on districts. And again, they can do that because individual states can decide how to divvy up their individual votes. The Electoral College system itself is set up in Article 2 of the US Constitution. And Article 2, Section 1 allows the states to retain their ability to run their own elections and to decide how to apportion their Electoral College votes. And so opponents of the Electoral College system have Been using this as a sort of a loophole to backdoor destroy it. Because you see, if you wanted to get rid of the Electoral College system in the normal way, you would need to amend the US Constitution, which is realistically not possible. There is not enough support to get rid of the Electoral College system to be able to pass an amendment. And so what opponents of the Electoral College System have done instead is that they've been using this backdoor way to try to get rid of it by having individual states that align with this idea of getting rid of the Electoral College sign up for something known as the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, the npvic. This is an agreement between the states that join to give their Electoral College votes to whoever happens to win the National Popular vote. A California millionaire named John Koza is trying to undo the Electoral College system he is leading and funding the National Popular Vote campaign. Their plan is to get state governments to ignore how their own citizens vote in presidential elections and instead get them to cast their electoral votes based on the National Popular Vote. If it works, this will be like getting rid of the Electoral College, but without actually amending the Constitution. NPV only takes effect if it is joined by enough states that they control 270 electoral votes, which would then control the outcome of all future presidential elections. If that happens, and if the courts do not strike it down, big cities will gain more political power at the expense of everyone else. And so what's been happening across the country with this campaign is that the state legislatures in blue states have been passing these NPCs. At the moment, 17 states as well as the District of Columbia, have successfully passed these NPVIC laws and have them on the books, dormant, ready to activate once enough states join in for your reference. The states with these NPVIC laws already on the books are as follows. You have Maryland, New Jersey, Illinois, Hawaii, Washington State, Massachusetts, Vermont, California, Rhode Island, New York, Connecticut, Colorado, Delaware, New Mexico, Oregon, Minnesota, the newly added Virginia, as Well as Washington, D.C. in total, these states represent a combined 222 Electoral College votes, which, if you do the math, is over 82% of the total necessary votes to be able to decide who wins the presidential election. And so, because they haven't reached that 270 vote threshold, these NPVIC laws, they are on the books in these different states as well as in dc, but they're dormant. They haven't gone into effect yet. However, if and when enough states do join this compact to add up to 270 votes, the laws will be triggered and overnight the Electoral College will effectively be eliminated. And so the very moment that last state joins, what will happen is that these 270/ electoral college votes will just be handed to whoever happens to win the national popular vote. The the moment that happens, the US President will be decided by a simple majority vote. Whoever is able to win, basically the masses of the big cities will be able to win the presidency, while the people living in the more rural states will frankly probably not see any presidential candidates visiting them moving forward. And here's the thing. While we're not quite there yet, looking across the country, it is actually feasible that within the next few years, enough states will join the compact to activate this change. Right now the NPVIC is missing only 65 electoral college votes. However, right now you have four states which have NPVIC bills going through their state legislatures. That's Arizona, Kansas, Pennsylvania and South Carolina. The bills are all in committee in those respective states and of course it's not guaranteed and the slightest that they will pass. But the point is that this is a growing Trend, a trend that's 82% of the way there. Now one other thing I think is worth mentioning is in this topic, at the top of the episode I mentioned that it's not necessarily clear whether this scheme is constitutional or not. Because on the one hand, proponents of the NPVIC, they say that Article 2, Section 1 of the US Constitution, it gives the states the plenary power to appoint electors in quote, such manner as the legislature thereof may direct meaning. If the state legislature of a particular state was wants to give their votes to the person who won the national popular vote, that's their prerogative and nobody can say otherwise. However, opponents of the npvic, they argue that it's not constitutional. There are many different lines of reasoning as to why they say that is. For instance, this relatively long essay on the Harvard Law School website broke down many arguments against it, which include this compact being a potential violation of the compact clause of the US Constitution on which states that, quote, no state shall, without the consent of Congress, enter into any agreement or compact with another state or with a foreign power and the NPVIC would clearly be a compact. Now, the debate here is still theoretical because thus far no legal challenges have been brought forth. But you can easily imagine that if this compact ever does reach that 270 vote threshold, the legal challenges will be immediate and it'll probably be taken up by the US Supreme Court and in an expedited fashion, because it literally would determine who wins the next election or at the very least, how the winner will be decided in the next election. Because you never know, right? It's mostly blue states passing these types of laws, but in the previous election, Trump happened to win the popular vote and the Electoral College vote, and so I guess you never know. Until then, though, if you'd like to read more about the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, I will throw the links to several resources, including both the arguments for it and against it. You'll be able to find it down in the description box below, which is that same description box below those like and subscribe buttons, both of which I hope you smash so this video can reach ever more people via the algorithm. And then lastly, leave your thoughts in the comments. Do you agree with the npvic? Do you believe that it does it would, I guess, represent more of the will of the people rather than in strict Electoral College system? Or. Or do you believe that it basically is exactly what the founding fathers hope to avoid and that by enacting the NPVIC it would basically disenfranchise Wyoming as an example? Wyoming. Little. Well, big Wyoming, Tiny population, half a million people. Why would somebody go and campaign there when that's a strictly kind of a Republican stronghold already? So why would anybody go to Wyoming when instead they can go to a city with so much more population density there that they can reach so many more people and convince them to vote for them? That just the logistics of it would make it such that nobody would need to visit Wyoming, Which. Which is unfortunate because that's exactly what the Electoral College system was hoping to avoid. Let me know your thoughts in the comments. Do you believe that it should be done because it is, what, like a stricter representative of what the people actually want? Or would it totally throw America to the whims of fancy of the popular sentiment of the time? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below. I'd love to read them. And then, until next time, I'm your host Roman from the Epoch Times. Stay informed. Most importantly, stay free.