• Home
  • Opinion
  • Quizzes
  • Redistricting
  • Sections
  • About Us
  • Voting
  • Events
  • Civic Ed
  • Campaign Finance
  • Directory
  • Election Dissection
  • Fact Check
  • Glossary
  • Independent Voter News
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Subscriptions
  • Log in
Leveraging Our Differences
  • news & opinion
    • Big Picture
      • Civic Ed
      • Ethics
      • Leadership
      • Leveraging big ideas
      • Media
    • Business & Democracy
      • Corporate Responsibility
      • Impact Investment
      • Innovation & Incubation
      • Small Businesses
      • Stakeholder Capitalism
    • Elections
      • Campaign Finance
      • Independent Voter News
      • Redistricting
      • Voting
    • Government
      • Balance of Power
      • Budgeting
      • Congress
      • Judicial
      • Local
      • State
      • White House
    • Justice
      • Accountability
      • Anti-corruption
      • Budget equity
    • Columns
      • Beyond Right and Left
      • Civic Soul
      • Congress at a Crossroads
      • Cross-Partisan Visions
      • Democracy Pie
      • Our Freedom
  • Pop Culture
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
  • events
  • About
      • Mission
      • Advisory Board
      • Staff
      • Contact Us
Sign Up
  1. Home>
  2. Big Picture>
  3. big picture>

Democrats rally to 3 more bold, long-shot ‘reform’ ideas

David Hawkings
March 19, 2019

House passage of a sweeping and multifaceted election and ethics package looks to be only the beginning of Democrats' "democracy reformer" positioning efforts heading into the 2020 campaign.

In recent days, the burgeoning field of presidential contenders and a clutch of congressional progressives have professed support for remaking several basic aspects of the political system — in much bigger ways than any of the provisions of their much-ballyhooed bill, dubbed HR 1.


Republicans have promised to send the bill to oblivion in the Senate, deriding it as a partisan power grab in the guise of "good government." And now they're scoffing even more derisively at the latest round of big ideas from the left: expanding the Supreme Court, abolishing the Electoral College and lowering the voting age to 16.

Even some senior Democrats are leery of promoting these ideas, saying they give off the impression the party wants to rig the system to its favor because it's still so angry at President Trump's election.

To be sure, none of the new proposals have a chance of implementation soon.

Lowering the voting age, and presumably boosting the Democratic vote at least in the near term, would require a constitutional amendment. And that only happens with the support of two-thirds majorities in the House and Senate plus the backing of 38 states — almost always a multiyear process.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

Adding seats to the Supreme Court, but not until the next (potentially Democratic) president could choose nominees to counter the conservative majority created with Trump's two justices, would be accomplished through legislation. But the president could veto such a bill, and overriding that would require large numbers of House and Senate Republicans to back the idea — not even a remote possibility.

Neutralizing the Electoral College, if not actually eliminating it, would be accomplished if enough states join what's called the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. But that's a long way off, as well, so in theory Trump could win re-election with a version of his 2016 formula: winning states with 306 electoral votes (three-dozen more than the magic number) while still losing the popular vote (Hillary Clinton got 2.9 million more).

Under this compact, states commit to award all their electoral votes to whichever presidential candidate wins the national popular vote — thereby assuring the popular vote winner becomes president. But the compact does not take effect until states with at least 270 electoral votes have signed on. And, so far, only 12 states and the District of Columbia — all of them reliably "blue" in recent national elections, and with a combined 181 electoral votes — have signed on. Only the most recent addition, Colorado, can be considered a swing state and even there voters went for the Democratic candidate in the last three elections. (Bills are pending in 15 other states, with 158 electoral votes, but few of them are given much shot at enactment before the 2020 election.)

Related Articles Around the Web
  • Democracy Reform | Brennan Center for Justice ›
  • House Passes the Most Significant Democracy Reform Bill in a ... ›
  • HR 1: Democrats pass sweeping bill to get money out of politics - Vox ›
  • 10 things you might not know about HR 1 ›
  • Text - H.R.1 - 116th Congress (2019-2020): For the People Act of ... ›
big picture

Want to write
for The Fulcrum?

If you have something to say about ways to protect or repair our American democracy, we want to hear from you.

Submit
Get some Leverage Sign up for The Fulcrum Newsletter
Confirm that you are not a bot.
×
Follow
Contributors

Hypocrisy of pro-lifers being anti-LGBTQIA

Steve Corbin

A dangerous loss of trust

William Natbony

Shifting the narrative on homelessness in America

David L. Nevins

Reform in 2023: Leadership worth celebrating

Layla Zaidane

Two technology balancing acts

Dave Anderson

Reform in 2023: It’s time for the civil rights community to embrace independent voters

Jeremy Gruber
latest News

Three practical presidential pledges to promote national prosperity

James-Christian B. Blockwood
14h

Meet the Faces of Democracy: Justin Roebuck

Mia Minkin
14h

Podcast: Why Is Congressional Oversight Important, and How Can It Be Done Well? (with Elise Bean)

Kevin R. Kosar
Elise J. Bean
21h

Chipping away at election integrity: Virginia joins red state exodus from ERIC

David J. Toscano
30 May

Your Take on congressional incivility

Lennon Wesley III
26 May

White House plan to combat antisemitism needs to take on centuries of hatred, discrimination and even lynching in America

Pamela Nadell
26 May
Videos

Video: Honoring Memorial Day

Our Staff

Video: #ListenFirst Friday YOUnify & CPL

Our Staff

Video: What is the toll of racial violence on Black lives?

Our Staff

Video: What's next for migrants seeking asylum after Title 42

Our Staff

Video: An inside look at the campaign to repeal Pennsylvania’s closed primaries

Our Staff

Video: Where the immigration debate stands today

Our Staff
Podcasts

Podcast: AI revolution: Disaster or great leap forward?

Our Staff
25 May

Podcast: Can we fix America's financial crises?

Our Staff
23 May

Podcast: Gen Z's fight for democracy

Our Staff
22 May

Podcast: Political Football, Inc.

Our Staff
19 May
Recommended
Three practical presidential pledges to promote national prosperity

Three practical presidential pledges to promote national prosperity

Big Picture
Meet the Faces of Democracy: Justin Roebuck

Meet the Faces of Democracy: Justin Roebuck

State
Podcast: Why Is Congressional Oversight Important, and How Can It Be Done Well? (with Elise Bean)

Podcast: Why Is Congressional Oversight Important, and How Can It Be Done Well? (with Elise Bean)

Test Unlisted
Hypocrisy of pro-lifers being anti-LGBTQIA

Hypocrisy of pro-lifers being anti-LGBTQIA

Diversity Inclusion and Belonging
Chipping away at election integrity: 
Virginia joins red state exodus from ERIC

Chipping away at election integrity: Virginia joins red state exodus from ERIC

Big Picture
Video: Honoring Memorial Day

Video: Honoring Memorial Day