00 HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 10 01 Supporting the Electoral College and opposing the Agreement Among the States to Elect 02 the President by National Popular Vote interstate compact. 03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: 04 WHEREAS the Constitutional Convention of 1787 established the United States of 05 America founded as a union of states and bound by republican principles of government; and 06 WHEREAS the Constitution of the United States protects the rights of the individual 07 states by providing numerous checks and balances to thwart the vertical concentration of 08 political power in the federal government; and 09 WHEREAS the Electoral College established in art. II, sec. 1, Constitution of the 10 United States, as well as the Twelfth and Twentieth Amendments to the Constitution of the 11 United States, provides an orderly presidential election process that protects the rights and 12 interests of the United States Congress, the individual states of the union, and the people of 13 the United States; and 14 WHEREAS AS 15.30, which governs Alaska's process for selecting electors to the 15 Electoral College, represents the collective interests of the citizens of the state; and 16 WHEREAS the founding fathers of the United States considered a purely democratic 01 government as hostile to liberty, discriminatory against minorities, and governed by a 02 licentious tyranny of the majority; and 03 WHEREAS the Electoral College reflects the founding fathers' strong belief that the 04 states should play a pivotal role in electing the President of the United States; and 05 WHEREAS, by requiring candidates to secure a broad coalition of electoral votes, the 06 Electoral College discourages candidates from campaigning solely in high population states; 07 and 08 WHEREAS the Electoral College protects and increases the ability of minorities to 09 participate in and influence presidential elections through state elections; and 10 WHEREAS the Electoral College encourages voter turnout by increasing the power 11 of an individual citizen's vote by encouraging participation in state presidential primaries; and 12 WHEREAS the Electoral College confines voter fraud to individual states rather than 13 the nation as a whole; and 14 WHEREAS the Electoral College encourages moderation and compromise while 15 minimizing the rise of divisive and illiberal factions; and 16 WHEREAS the United States Congress has rejected more than 700 proposed 17 constitutional amendments related to the Electoral College, including amendments favoring a 18 national popular vote; and 19 WHEREAS the Agreement Among the States to Elect the President by National 20 Popular Vote interstate compact proposes to elect the President of the United States by 21 awarding all electoral votes to the winner of the popular vote; and 22 WHEREAS the nationalization of the presidential election fundamentally rejects our 23 nation's founding principles of federalism and republicanism; and 24 WHEREAS the proponents of the Agreement Among the States to Elect the President 25 by National Popular Vote interstate compact have expressed their intent to enter into that 26 compact without the consent of the United States Congress; and 27 WHEREAS entering into a compact without the consent of the Congress would 28 clearly violate art. I, sec. 10, Constitution of the United States, and Congress' constitutional 29 authority and would, therefore, precipitate a constitutional debate that would not be in the best 30 interest of the people of the United States or the individual states; and 31 WHEREAS the Agreement Among the States to Elect the President by National 01 Popular Vote interstate compact bypasses the proper means of amending the Constitution of 02 the United States under art. V, Constitution of the United States, and violates the legitimacy 03 of the presidential election process; and 04 WHEREAS, by encouraging presidential candidates to focus on large population 05 centers rather than nurturing a broad coalition of large and small state interests, the 06 Agreement Among the States to Elect the President by National Popular Vote interstate 07 compact would diminish the interests of the 50 states during the presidential campaign 08 process; and 09 WHEREAS the Agreement Among the States to Elect the President by National 10 Popular Vote interstate compact would subject the electoral system to a series of potentially 11 destabilizing legal challenges because of concerns about the constitutionality of the compact, 12 the handling of disputed votes, the enforceability among the states in and outside of the 13 compact, voter eligibility, and uncertainty regarding what constitutes a winning majority of 14 voters; and 15 WHEREAS the Electoral College has successfully resolved prior contested 16 presidential elections without diminishing the representation of the people of the United 17 States or the individual states; 18 BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives asserts its belief that the 19 Agreement Among the States to Elect the President by National Popular Vote interstate 20 compact would detrimentally reduce Alaska's voice in electing the President of the United 21 States; and be it 22 FURTHER RESOLVED that the House of Representatives affirms its support of 23 republican principles and the Electoral College as the most prudent means of preserving and 24 protecting the rights of all Americans. 25 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Vice- 26 President of the United States and President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable John Boehner, 27 Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; the Honorable Harry Reid, Majority Leader of 28 the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Mitch McConnell, Minority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the 29 Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Minority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives; and the 30 Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the Honorable Mark Begich, U.S. Senators, and the 31 Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.