Maine moves to join Demo­c­ra­t­ic-led pact to elect pres­i­dent by pop­u­lar vote instead of Elec­toral Col­lege

A new Maine bill was passed by the state leg­is­la­ture on Wednes­day that would tie Maine’s Elec­toral Col­lege votes for pres­i­dent to the country’s pop­u­lar vote. 
The bill nar­row­ly passed the state’s low­er cham­ber in a 73–72 vote. It was then approved by the state Sen­ate, and it now heads to the desk of Gov. Janet Mills (D‑ME), who has not indi­cat­ed whether she will sign the leg­is­la­tion. If she does, the state would join a nation­al move­ment where each state in the agree­ment would assign their Elec­toral Col­lege votes to the can­di­date who wins the nation­al pop­u­lar vote.

Gov. Janet Mills (D‑ME) deliv­ers her State of the State address, Jan. 30, 2024, at the State House in Augus­ta, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)

“The Maine legislature’s approval of the NPV bill gets our coun­try one step clos­er to a goal that already enjoys broad bipar­ti­san sup­port and sim­ply makes sense: elect­ing the pres­i­dent by pop­u­lar vote,” for­mer Michi­gan Repub­li­can Par­ty Chair­man Saul Anuzis told the Wash­ing­ton Exam­in­er. “The Nation­al Pop­u­lar Vote plan advances the prin­ci­ple of one-per­son, one‑v …