One of the most popular states, the Virginia House of Delegates, has passed legislation that would give the electoral votes to the popular winner.

In a 51-46 vote in the Democrat-led House, House Bill 177 was passed. Once approved by the Senate, the state of Virginia will officially become a member of the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.

The bill states that “Under the compact, Virginia agrees to award its electoral votes to the presidential ticket that receives the most popular votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.”

Moreover, “The compact goes into effect when states cumulatively possessing a majority of the electoral votes have joined the compact. A state may withdraw from the compact; however, a withdrawal occurring within six months of the end of a President’s term shall not become effective until a President or Vice President has qualified to serve the next term.”

According to the National Popular Vote Inc., 15 states and the District of Columbia had joined the compact. These make up 196 electoral votes. If Virginia is to join, it will award 13 electoral votes making up the 209 votes, just a few numbers shy from the 270 votes needed to win the presidency.

The endorsers of the “national-popular” vote system see it as an answer to the issues of the current President system which implements the “winner-takes-all” laws.

For example, in a state like California which has 55 electoral votes, the winner will take all the 55 votes, while the other nominee will get zero.

This creates a problem since most candidates will only focus on states with more electoral votes such as Ohio, Florida, Virginia, and Iowa while the other 35 states with smaller electoral votes like Nevada will be completely ignored.

Even Democrat Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak pointed out the problem with the national popular vote. He said that; “Once effective, the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact could diminish the role of smaller states like Nevada in national electoral contests and force Nevada’s electors to side with whoever wins the nationwide popular vote, rather than the candidate Nevadans choose.”

Sioslak added that “As Nevada’s governor, I am obligated to make such decisions according to my own conscience. In cases like this, where Nevada’s interests could diverge from the interests of large states, I will always stand up for Nevada.”

Breitbart News Senior-Editor-at-Large Joel Pollak wrote that “many critics feel the popular vote could disenfranchise voters outside of major population centers.”

Pollack added that “Moreover, the “national popular vote” would, critics say, reward candidates for concentrating their time and resources on the most densely populated parts of the country. It would also create an incentive for fraud in the jurisdictions most susceptible to it. California, with its new system of “ballot harvesting,” in which unregistered activists may deliver an unlimited number of mail-in ballots, would be a prime candidate, as rival campaigns competed to stuff ballot boxes.”