As I write, I am patiently awaiting legislation that will be up for consideration in Augusta. The bill (yet to receive a # or a final title) offers a true alternative to our hung-up elections, and the current state of how votes in the electoral college play out in real time.
The bill will recommend that Maine join 16 other states and jurisdictions in signing on to the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.
The concept behind this agreement is that states would commit (through state legislative law) to award their electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote. This agreement would take effect if and only when the states signing into the compact have a total of 270 votes. Believe it or not, this alternative gives us a way to have elections in which the vote of the every citizen would count equally. The states already signed on possess 196 electoral college votes; that leaves 74 still needed. Colorado just joined by a citizens’ initiative, and Virginia just passed this law through its House as a first step. Maine’s Senate President Troy Jackson is sponsoring the bill.
For more information, check out the National Popular Vote website, and let’s see if we can get Augusta to get moving on this very important legislation.
We need every citizens vote to count equally regardless of what state they reside in. This is a real solution. It does not do away with the electoral college (which would need a Constitutional Amendment) but rather charts a path to fairer, more comprehensive representation. Every vote should count. There is overwhelming popular support in polls regarding this solution and Maine needs to get on board. Then all of our votes would count equally with those of people across the country.
Eileen Kreutz
Industry
