By: Brenden Boudreau

In what oddly appears to be an orchestrated attempt to neuter the power of their own state, the Republican-controlled Michigan Legislature is flirting with joining the National Popular Vote (NPV) movement.

National Popular Vote is an interstate compact in which all participating states agree to give their Electoral College votes to the winner of the national popular vote in presidential elections.

In other words, if NPV were law in enough states before the 2016 elections, Michigan’s electoral votes would have gone to Hillary Clinton instead of Donald Trump, the first Republican presidential candidate to win the state since 1988.

Pending Legislation
There are two bills, one in each chamber, currently pending that, if passed, would make Michigan a member of NPV.

House Bill 6323 has 15 Republican co-sponsors. It is assumed that all House Democrats support the bill, meaning HB 6323 is very close to having the support necessary to pass.

Senate Bill 1117 has accrued 24 (out of 38) Senate co-sponsors, including 14 Republicans. Both bills were introduced on September 5 and quickly received committee hearings. The Legislature reconvenes the last week in September, and action on these bills is expected to take place.

So far, only the most anti-gun leftist states have joined the compact that would undermine the U.S. Constitution’s system for electing the president of the United States. They include: California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington, as well as Washington, D.C.

It absolutely boggles the mind why Republicans in Michigan would want to sign on to this radical proposal after their state helped deliver the White House to the Republican candidate for the first time in three decades.

Anti-Gun Leftist Billionaires
The National Popular Vote movement is funded by anti-gun leftist billionaires who, up to this point, have only have found success in their own backyards. If Michigan were to join the compact, it is sure to encourage more Republicans in battleground states to do likewise, thus dooming our electoral process for generations.

What may be at the heart of this movement gaining new life in Michigan is the fact that former Michigan GOP National Committeeman Saul Anuzis is on the payroll of NPV.

What the supporters of National Popular Vote claim is that the current system for electing the president is set up to give power only to a few battleground states, since the vast majority of states are reliably blue or red.

The fact is, though, that the 2016 presidential election saw more states become battlegrounds than we’ve seen in recent election memory. Rust belt states like Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania that were once considered part of the Democrat firewall handed Donald Trump a landslide victory in the Electoral College.

If the anti-gunners backing National Popular Vote had their way, only the largest, most populous states would have any voice in the presidential election. Candidates would spend all their time racking up their vote totals in the urban centers of California, New York, Illinois, and other liberal states, and in hot pockets of liberalism in traditional red states like Austin, Texas and Miami, Florida.

There would be no incentive for candidates to spend any time in rural areas or rural states, meaning all of the electoral power would be centralized in the most anti-gun states and the most anti-gun populous areas of traditionally pro-gun states.

The Road to Mob Rule
The Founding Fathers were fearful of mob rule, which is why they added the Electoral College to the Constitution to ensure that these United States of America would remain a Republic and not fail like the democracies of old.

Turning our electoral system for president into a popular vote is a sure way to guarantee that anti-gun billionaires will have complete control over the White House for generations and will completely gut the power gun rights activists currently have in the election of the Commander-in-Chief.

Gun owners in Michigan and elsewhere must call on their state legislators to reject this dangerous proposal and hold all politicians accountable for their support of National Popular Vote.

Brenden Boudreau is the Director of Field Operations for the National Association for Gun Rights, writing from Michigan. Contact him at [email protected]. Disclosure: In addition to his work with the National Association for Gun Rights, the author is also Executive Director of Great Lakes Gun Rights.