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For a peaceful transfer of power, we can honor the popular vote while keeping Electoral College | Opinion

On Jan. 20, amid razor wire and 20,000 National Guard soldiers lining the barricaded streets of the U.S. Capitol, the Biden inauguration proceeded with the full transfer of power that Americans expect. But what led up to it was hardly peaceful — not with an armed insurrection at the Capitol and five deaths.

“Rather than defending the Constitution, President Trump was actively subverting the peaceful transfer of power, which is a bedrock principle of the Constitution,” Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana wrote in the Baton Rouge “The Advocate” of Trump’s actions before the January 6. defending his vote to convict Trump during the impeachment trial.

“Americans should not be fed lies about ‘massive election fraud.’ Police should not be left to the mercy of a mob. Mobs should not be inflamed to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power,” Cassidy wrote.

Could we have skipped all of this chaos? What if we had elected President Biden by the national popular vote — and he was declared the winner with 7 million more votes than his opponent? We might have avoided 50 federal lawsuits, attacks against state election officials and their election results, and the riots.

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There is a way to avoid such election catastrophes in the future, and it’s offered in legislation being introduced in the Florida House and Senate: House Bill 39, sponsored by Rep. Joseph Geller, D- Dania Beach — known as the Agreement Among the States to Elect the President by National Popular Vote.

Florida is among 48 states that awards its electoral votes to the winner of the state’s popular vote. If Florida joins the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, the votes would be awarded to the winner of the national popular vote. The bill has two new co-sponsors, Rep. Michael Grieco, D-Miami Beach, and Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando. Meanwhile, Sen. Victor Torres, D-Orlando, introduced a companion bill in the Florida Senate.

The bill guarantees that the president is the winner of the most votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. It does not abolish the Electoral College and does not require a constitutional amendment, because it is state-based legislation that respects the Constitution and states’ rights.

So far, 15 states and the District of Columbia have passed the legislation, adding up to 196 electoral votes. It is only 74 votes away from reaching 270, which would activate the law.

This year, 13 additional state legislatures are considering passing the popular-vote bill, and with good reason: Americans want their votes to count, and under this law, every vote would be equal no matter where voters live. According to a 2017 poll commissioned by the League of Women Voters and conducted by Florida Atlantic University, 68 percent of Floridians want to elect their president by popular vote.

Isn’t it time to end the turmoil?

Kristofer Hernandez is an attorney and serves as the Miami-Dade district chair of Floridians for National Popular Vote.