Make Every Vote Matter (also known as Make Every Voter Equal) is a left-of-center advocacy group aligned with National Popular Vote (NPV), a campaign that promotes the replacement of state-level elections for Electors with the adoption of a national popular vote wherein states pledge to award their electoral votes to the winner of the nationwide aggregate vote in presidential elections.

Make Every Vote Matter promotes NPV’s interstate compact legislation and shares a variety of general left-of-center news articles and opinion pieces promoting Democratic politicians and criticizing Republicans. ¹

Background

Make Every Vote Matter is a 501(c)(4) advocacy organization and files the IRS “E-Postcard,” indicating that it raises less than $50,000 in annual revenue. ²

The organization publishes a website and affiliated Facebook page. The main goal of the organization is to push states to adopt the National Popular Vote interstate compact, in which states pledge to award their electoral voters to the overall popular vote winner. The much larger advocacy group National Popular Vote has led such lobbying efforts since the mid-2000s and has managed, with support from smaller activist groups like Make Every Vote Matter, to see its compact adopted in 15 states and the District of Columbia as of December 2022, although such states do not plan to award their votes to the national popular vote winner until states representing a majority of electoral votes adopt the compact. ^{3 4}

Make Every Vote Matter employs similar left-of-center talking points around the inadequacies of the electoral college to the rhetoric employed by National Popular Vote. The organization claims that the “winner-takes-all” model for state electoral votes is flawed and that voters in heavily partisan states “lost their vote” through the Electoral College. ⁵ The group likewise dismisses arguments in favor of the Electoral College, such as the way the system protects the interest of smaller states. ⁶

Activities

Make Every Vote Count supports the elimination of the Electoral College, calling the system designed by the framers of the U.S. Constitution “a barrier to democracy.” The organization has endorsed state-level passage of the National Popular Vote Compact as what it views as the most feasible means of effectively eliminating the electoral college. ⁷

The organization’s Facebook page exclusively shared information and action alerts urging residents and activist groups in certain states urge the legislature to pass the National Popular Vote compact, but as of December 2022, their page has posted a variety of general left-of-center news and articles and opinion pieces promoting Democratic politicians and criticizing Republicans, particularly former President Donald Trump. ⁸

1. “Home.” Make Every Vote Matter. Accessed December 11, 2022. https://www.makeeveryvotematter.org/
2. “Make Every Vote Matter.” ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. Accessed January 3, 2023. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/812422016
3. “Home.” National Popular Vote. Accessed December 11, 2022. https://www.nationalpopularvote.com/
4. “The Case.” Make Every Vote Matter. Accessed December 11, 2022. https://www.makeeveryvotematter.org/the-case/
5. “The Plan.” Make Every Vote Matter, Accessed January 3, 2023. https://www.makeeveryvotematter.org/the-plan/
6. “The Case.” Make Every Vote Matter. Accessed December 11, 2022. https://www.makeeveryvotematter.org/the-case/
7. “The Plan.” Make Every Vote Matter, Accessed January 3, 2023. https://www.makeeveryvotematter.org/the-plan/
8. “Make Every Vote Matter.” Facebook, Accessed January 3, 2023. https://www.facebook.com/makeeveryvotematter