GOP Macomb clerk and other Republican leaders back bipartisan National Popular Vote

LANSING (March 7, 2023) – Macomb County’s Clerk Kim Meltzer of Clinton Charter Township endorsed passage of the bipartisan National Popular Vote Interstate Compact as the House Elections Committee held a hearing on the bill.

In a letter to Democratic and Republican members of the House Elections Committee, the Republican clerk and former member of the Legislature called House Bill 4156 “an example of how Democrats and Republicans can come together to ensure that the vote of all Michiganders is equal and relevant in every presidential election.”

“Having extensively reviewed the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, I can say that it does not abolish the Electoral College; does not change or impact any other federal, state, or local election law; and does not require any extra steps, new machinery or apparatuses, or increased funding to be implemented,” Meltzer said in her letter, which was also sent to senators on the Senate Elections and Ethics Committee. “Instead, the legislation uses the Michigan Legislature’s plenary power under the U.S. Constitution to award Michigan’s electors to the presidential candidate with the most votes.”

Testifying in support of the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact before the House Elections Committee were three Republicans: former Speaker Chuck Perricone, former Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville and Hillsdale College Professor Dr. Gary Wolfram, a former deputy state treasurer.

“It’s one person, one vote,” Perricone said. “Shame on anyone who tries to turn that into politics.”

Pointing to basic math, Richardville told the committee: “As Los Angeles does not control statewide elections in California, it’s hardly in a position to control a nationwide election for president. It’s a simple fact that 82 percent of Americans don’t live in New York and California.”

“I want to emphasize that the present method used by Michigan — the state winner-take-all method — does not appear anywhere in the United States Constitution and was not the method used by the Founding Fathers,” Wolfram said. “If a state such as Michigan has winner-take-all — the present method — and polls show that you will get at most 44 percent of the vote if you campaign and spend $2 million here, then it makes no sense for you to campaign in our state. You will get the same number of electors (zero) that you will get if you don’t spend a dime or moment traversing our state and only get 20 percent of the vote.”