Maine Governor Allows National Popular Vote Bill To Pass

Gov. Janet Mills has given her approval for a “national popular vote” bill to be enacted as law.

Thanks to the Maine Democrat, the state can award its four electoral votes to an interstate compact that would eliminate the Electoral College if enough states agree.

The passage of the bill, LD 1578, means Maine has pledged to award its Electoral College votes to the presidential popular vote winner, joining 16 other states and the District of Columbia.

The measure cleared the Maine House of Representatives by a single vote and passed the Senate by an 18-12 margin.

The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact can only be enforced when enough states have joined to make up a combined electoral vote count of 270, though questions that may draw legal challenges remain.

According to the latest count, the compact needs 61 more electoral votes to achieve a majority and be adopted theoretically.

Kevin Miller from Maine Public has the latest information:

In a statement, Mills said she understands concerns raised by opponents that candidates might pay less attention to smaller, rural states like Maine in a popular vote scenario. But Mills, a Democrat, said she sees merit to both sides of the debate. Republicans voted unanimously against the bill in both the House and the Senate.

“While I recognize concerns about presidential candidates spending less time in Maine, it is also quite possible that candidates will spend more time in every state when every vote counts equally, and I struggle to reconcile the fact that a candidate who has fewer actual votes than their opponent can still become President of the United States,” Mills said in a statement. “Absent a ranked choice voting circumstance, it seems to me that the person who wins the most votes should become the President. To do otherwise seemingly runs counter to the democratic foundations of our country.”

Mills added that because the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact has not yet reached 270 delegates and that it would not be in effect this election, the bill that passed the Legislature is not irreversible and that she preferred to allow the national debate to play out.

Two of the past four presidents — George W. Bush and Donald Trump — won the White House despite not receiving support from the majority of voters in those elections.

Introduced in 2006, the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact has received 77% of the 270 votes to come into legal force. As of this week, the compact has been approved by Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Minnesota, Colorado, New Mexico, Washington, Oregon, California and Hawaii. It is pending in nine states, including Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, Michigan, Kansas, Arizona, Nevada and Alaska, with a combined total of 87 electoral votes.

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