IV 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. CON. RES. 79 

Expressing the sense of Congress that Congress and the States should consider a constitutional amendment to reform the Electoral College and 

establish a process for electing the President and Vice President by 

a national popular vote and should encourage individual States to continue to reform the Electoral College process through such steps as 

the formation of an interstate compact to award the majority of Electoral 

College votes to the national popular vote winner. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 14, 2017 

Mr. CONYERS (for himself, Mr. NADLER, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. COHEN, Mr. 

RASKIN, Mr. AL GREEN of Texas, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mr. JOHNSON of 

Georgia, Mr. JEFFRIES, Mr. BLUMENAUER, and Mr. GUTIE ́RREZ) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of Congress that Congress and the 

States should consider a constitutional amendment to 

reform the Electoral College and establish a process for 

electing the President and Vice President by a national 

popular vote and should encourage individual States to 

continue to reform the Electoral College process through 

such steps as the formation of an interstate compact 

to award the majority of Electoral College votes to the 

national popular vote winner. 


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•HCON 79 IH 

Whereas the Supreme Court has held that the ‘‘conception of 

political equality from the Declaration of Independence, 

to Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, to the 15th, 17th, and 

19th Amendments can only mean one thing — one person, one vote;’’; 

Whereas the Electoral College is an anti-democratic method 

of Presidential selection that has permitted the candidate 

without a majority of the popular vote to become President of the United States on five occasions, including the 

most recent election, in which Hillary Clinton garnered 

almost 3 million more votes than Electoral College winner 

Donald Trump; 

Whereas the Electoral College lessens the value of votes in 

the majority of States relative to the value of votes in socalled swing States because a small number of voters in 

these States can determine the outcome of an election; 

Whereas a person could be elected President with potentially 

less than 22 percent of the popular vote, calling into 

question his or her political legitimacy; 

Whereas the ‘‘winner take all’’ basis of the Electoral College 

discounts the votes of the millions of people who did not 

vote for the winning candidate in their States; 

Whereas the Electoral College does not act as a check on unqualified candidates as the Framers of the Constitution 

intended because it is populated by political party loyalists who do not, and often under State law cannot, exercise independent judgment or who do not even meet to 

deliberate about who should be President, which is why 

over time there have been very few ‘‘faithless’’ electors, 

and none that have decided an election’s outcome; 


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Whereas the Electoral College does not protect small-population States and rural areas from domination by largepopulation States and urban areas and instead encourages candidates to bypass the majority of States, whatever their size, to focus their campaign efforts on a very 

small number of swing States; 

Whereas in the 2016 Presidential election both major party 

candidates largely bypassed 3 of the 4 largest States by 

population during the campaign and also skipped campaigning in 12 of the 13 smallest States as well; 

Whereas statewide recounts under differing and confusing 

rules bring neither clarity nor finality to the electoral 

process, while a national popular vote is far more likely 

to establish a clear winner, avoiding the necessity of recounts altogether; 

Whereas according to Yale Law School Professor Akhil Reed 

Amar, the Electoral College is an anachronistic institution, its historical development rooted in preserving the 

political influence of slaveholding States whose enslaved 

populations were not allowed to vote but three-fifths of 

whom were counted when determining the number of 

Electoral College votes allotted to the State; 

Whereas proposed amendments to the Constitution reforming 

the Electoral College have been approved by a two-thirds 

majority twice in the Senate and once in the House, and 

more than 700 proposals to eliminate or reform the Electoral College have been introduced; and 

Whereas 11 States representing 165 electoral votes have already entered into an interstate compact to cast their 

electoral votes for the national popular vote winner: Now, 

therefore, be it 


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•HCON 79 IH 

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 

2 concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that— 

3 (1) Congress and the States should consider a 

4 constitutional amendment to reform the Electoral 

5 College and establish a process for electing the 

6 President and Vice President by a national popular 

7 vote; and 

8 (2) Congress should encourage the States to 

9 continue to reform the Electoral College process 

10 through such steps as the formation of an interstate 

11 compact to award the majority of Electoral College 

12 votes to the national popular vote winner. 

Æ 


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