To the editor:

If we learned anything from this year’s election, it’s that the current system of electing the president is deeply undemocratic. The fate and future of our country shouldn’t rest on a few key precincts in a handful of swing states – every voter in every state should matter. That’s why I think fixing the Electoral College must be a priority in 2021.

The Virginia General Assembly has the opportunity to help make that happen by passing the National Popular Vote bill – a law that awards a state’s Electoral College votes to the presidential candidate who gets the most votes overall. It would only take effect once it is passed by states holding 270 electoral votes. Virginia must lend its 13 electoral votes to the cause, bringing us to 209 electoral votes and one step closer to giving the power of our democracy back to the American people.

I want presidential candidates to care about the issues that people like me and my neighbors care about too – not just what voters in so-called battleground states care about. That’s why I support NPV and why I am urging Virginia’s lawmakers to pass it as soon as possible. Passing the National Popular Vote would ensure that every state, including Virginia, matters in future presidential elections.

-Maggie Moore, Alexandria