Electoral College Expert Warns Virginia's National Popular Vote Decision is a 'Logistical and Legal Nightmare'

...And Says Most Americans Don't Know What's Coming

DALLAS, TN, UNITED STATES, April 21, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger recently signed legislation to join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPV), bringing the total number of committed electoral votes up to 222. The compact is designed to effectively bypass the Electoral College by directing each signatory state to award its presidential electors to the winner of the national popular vote, regardless of who wins that state. NPV’s compact takes effect when states possessing 270 electoral votes have signed.

Electoral College expert, retired attorney, and award-winning author Tara Ross says the consequences will be far more disruptive than supporters expect, and that most Americans have no idea what they're actually signing up for.

“Americans do not realize what is about to hit them if [this plan] becomes reality,” Ross wrote in a recent op-ed at USA Today. She draws a pointed historical comparison: the situation, she argues, bears an “eerie resemblance to Prohibition,” when a constitutional amendment was passed with broad public support but with poorly understood consequences. “The reality of Prohibition had not matched the sales pitch. . . . The same will happen with [NPV].”

The core problem, Ross explains, is structural: “an interstate compact cannot change the foundations of our system: It cannot give the federal government authority to override state election codes. Only a constitutional amendment can do that.”

The practical result? 50 states with 50 different sets of election laws, all suddenly feeding into a single national popular vote total. Different early voting windows, different absentee ballot rules, different felon re-enfranchisement policies, different ballot qualification standards: Each one is a potential equal protection lawsuit waiting to happen.

Ross points to the tools that non-participating states have to stop NPV. States that have rejected NPV retain full constitutional authority over their own elections and could use that authority to complicate or undermine the national total.

“What if Texas gives each of its citizens three opportunities to vote, hoping to inflate GOP numbers? . . . What if nonparticipating states release vote totals for winning candidates only?” she wrote. “Any of these actions will make a national popular vote total inaccurate and possibly unknowable.”

Her bottom line is unambiguous: adoption of NPV “is a deliberate choice to place voters in a situation that guarantees unequal treatment, each and every presidential election year.”

Ross is available for media interviews, television and radio appearances, and expert commentary on the Electoral College, the National Popular Vote compact, and the constitutional questions surrounding both.

Ross's warning about NPV arrives alongside the publication of her new children's book, We Created a Country: The Story of Our Constitution. Available now on Amazon and through major booksellers, the book brings the Constitutional Convention to life for young readers, covering the debates, compromises, and founding principles that produced the document now at the center of the NPV debate.

With America's 250th anniversary approaching on July 4, 2026, Ross says the timing is intentional: “The Constitution has carried us through every crisis, every conflict, every moment when we were sure we wouldn't make it through. That's the story worth knowing right now.”

The book is illustrated by Kate E. Sands and is the latest in Ross's acclaimed series of children's books on American history, which includes the 2024 NSDAR Excellence in American History Children's Book Award winner We Fought for Freedom: The Story of Our American Revolution.

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Tara Ross is a nationally recognized author and speaker known for her expertise on the U.S. Constitution and the Electoral College. She is the author of several books, including Why We Need the Electoral College?, Under God: George Washington and the Question of Church and State, and a series of historical and educational children’s books. Her PragerU video, Do You Understand the Electoral College?, is the platform's most-viewed video, with nearly 67 million views. A retired lawyer and a graduate of the University of Texas School of Law, Ross is a frequent guest on national radio and television programs and speaks to university, legal, and civic audiences across the country. She has contributed to prominent law reviews and newspapers and addressed audiences at institutions such as Brown University, the University of Virginia, and Mount Vernon.

Laura Braden
Laura Braden
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