Letter to the Editor,

On Friday, October 9th, the Valley Courier published a letter that may confuse voters on an issue that will appear on this year’s Colorado ballot.  I am referring to Dave Knudson’s letter discussing Colorado Proposition 113, which deals with the National Popular Vote (NPV) initiative.

Dave Knudson, referring to proposition 113, wrote that “… in a nutshell, a campaign is underway to combine vote totals in a group of states totaling 270 electoral votes; tally all their total votes; commit all 270 electoral college votes to the candidate with the highest total, and thus elect the President.” 

To me, this sounds like the states that belong to the NPV compact would count only the votes from “their” own states.  If this is what Mr. Knudson thinks then he is mistaken.  The NPV initiative would tally the popular vote of the entire country, counting the votes of all 50 states and the District of Columbia, and use the result to determine which candidate gets the block of 270 (or more) electoral votes.  The NPV initiative is designed so that the candidate for president who gets the most votes nationwide will always get enough electoral college votes to win the election.  And the compact doesn’t become law until enough states sign up to reach the 270 electoral votes needed to win the election. If proposition 113 passes, nothing will change here in Colorado until enough other states join the compact to guarantee that it will work.

To sum up, if you like the current electoral college system where a candidate can win the presidency even though the other candidate gets more votes, vote “no” on Proposition 113.  If you think the candidate that gets the most votes should automatically win the election, then vote “yes” on Proposition 113.

I have my own opinion on proposition 113, but that’s not why I’m writing this letter.  I just want to make sure that the voters of Colorado are properly informed about what they are voting on before they vote.

Thank you for your time.

Jay Geiger

Alamosa