; Whereas in the 2016 Presidential election both major party candidates largely bypassed 3 of the 4 largest States by population during the campaign and also skipped campaigning in 12 of the 13 smallest States as well; Whereas statewide recounts under differing and confusing rules bring neither clarity nor finality to the electoral process, while a national popular vote is far more likely to establish a clear winner, avoiding the necessity of recounts altogether; Whereas according to Yale Law School Professor Akhil Reed Amar, the Electoral College is an anachronistic institution, its historical development rooted in preserving the political influence of slaveholding States whose enslaved populations were not allowed to vote but three-fifths of whom were counted when determining the number of Electoral College votes allotted to the State; Whereas proposed amendments to the Constitution reforming the Electoral College have been approved by a two-thirds majority twice in the Senate and once in the House, and more than 700 proposals to eliminate or reform the Electoral College have been introduced; and Whereas 11 States representing 165 electoral votes have already entered into an interstate compact to cast their electoral votes for the national popular vote winner: Now, therefore, be it