This is a testimony submitted to the House Elections Committee by David Guenthner on March 7, 2023.

My name is David Guenthner and I am Vice President for Government Affairs at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Thank you for the opportunity to submit written testimony opposing HB 4156 by Rep. Carrie Rheingans, which proposes to add the state of Michigan to the National Popular Vote interstate compact.

The compact requires all states to cast their electoral votes for the same candidate, but does not require federal elections to be conducted according to the same procedures or ballot security standards. This shifts the power in presidential elections to large states and jurisdictions capable of producing the largest vote totals and overwhelming the influence of smaller states and jurisdictions.

The NPV compact also creates chaos in the event of a close or disputed national election – a nationwide recount is practically impossible – and is incompatible with ranked-choice voting models.

Rather than reducing the already shaky voter confidence in election results via the NPV compact, Michigan’s electoral votes should continue to be awarded exclusively to the candidate receiving the most votes from Michigan residents.

David Guenthner is the vice president for government affairs at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy