Maine votes to join multi-state agreement to elect the president by popular vote

Maine’s Democratic-run legislature has passed a bill that would have the state join an alliance to elect the president according to the national popular vote, sending the legislation to Democratic Gov. Janet Mills for her expected signature.

The bill would add Maine’s four Electoral College votes to the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, under which member states would collectively award their electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote. The compact would come into force only once states with a majority of electoral votes have joined.

Currently, the statewide winner gets two of Maine’s electoral votes, while whichever candidate wins in either of the state’s two congressional districts gets one additional vote per district.

Democrats have controlled both the legislature and governor’s office since 2019, but that year, even though the Senate approved a similar bill, the House narrowly rejected it, with a handful of Democrats joining with Republicans to sink the measure. But this time around, the House passed the proposal despite Democrats having a smaller majority than five years ago, while it easily prevailed in the Senate.

Mills has not taken a position on the bill yet, but she appears unlikely to oppose it. However, if she does sign it into law, Republicans could attempt to put a referendum on November’s ballot that would repeal the legislation if voters agree, though a similar repeal vote in Colorado failed in 2020.

The compact’s 17 current members (which include Washington, D.C.) presently have 205 of the 270 electoral votes needed to activate it; Maine’s entry would increase that figure to 209. Because Republicans have typically opposed the agreement, its ultimate passage will likely rely on Democrats winning power in several more states. That could happen by 2028, as there’s a tough yet real path to victory, as illustrated in the map at the top of this story (click here to enlarge) and in this companion spreadsheet.

The compact moved closer to the 270 mark last year due to Democratic-led drives in Minnesota, which added its 10 electoral votes to the compact, and in Nevada, which took the first step in a multiyear process that could see the state contribute its six electoral votes by 2026.

In Michigan, meanwhile, a state House committee advanced a bill last year to add that state’s 15 electoral votes to the alliance. The Senate, however, has yet to take action, and the House has been tied since November after two Democrats were elected to local offices. But if Democrats win special elections for those seats in April, they could once again press forward.

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