Will Connecticut Legislature drop the ball on National Popular Vote?

UPDATE: Today I spoke to the Speaker's representative about the bill. He told me that Mr. Sharkey would gladly bring the bill to a vote if there was enough support for it to pass. But he said that the Republicans are nearly unanimous in their opposition to it, and there isn't enough Democratic support to get a clear majority. There are other more pressing issues that need to be addressed during the final days of the session, and having a bill fail to pass wouldn't be the best use of the time.

I appreciate hearing from the Speaker's office, and agree with his reasoning.

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Reprinted in its entirety from My Left Nutmeg:

by: Kim Hynes
Thu Apr 24, 2014 at 08:37:38 AM EDT

We're getting close to the end of the legislative session and, as usual in a short session, things are getting lost. National Popular Vote is in danger of being one of those things. Under the National Popular Vote bill, participating states would join an agreement to award their electoral votes to the candidate who wins the most votes in all 50 states. This agreement would only go into effect when states representing an Electoral College majority, 270, signed on. When the agreement kicked in, the winner of the national popular vote would win in the Electoral College. We are 60% of the way there! New York joined the compact last week, with Governor Cuomo signing it into law.

Despite promising that the bill would be called if the votes were there (they are) House Speaker Brendan Sharkey seems focused on letting it die. We have heard he was very negative about it in the Democratic caucus. CT News Junkie today quotes Representative Jutila, " 'Although the speaker has said he would allow the bill to be raised if enough House Democrats wanted it passed', Jutila said Sharkey's opinion on the issue has cooled support among lawmakers who did not previously have firm positions on the issue."

If you have not yet called Speaker Brendan Sharkey or the Governor now is the critical time to express your support for House Bill 5126, the National Popular Vote Bill .

Every vote should count for President of the US as it does in other elections, support the National Popular Vote!

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Contact info:

Legislative Office Building, Room 4100
Hartford, CT 06106-1591
1-800-842-1902 | (860) 240-8500

600 Mount Carmel Avenue
Hamden, CT 06518
(203) 281-4647
Brendan.Sharkey@cga.ct.gov