ACTION ALERT: Let the people pick the president

Thursday, January 18, 2024
LWVME
 

The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact will guarantee that the candidate who wins the most popular votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia becomes the President. 
 
The Maine legislature just held a public hearing on this legislation on January 8. Soon they'll schedule a work session — when they could pass the bill out of committee and advance the bill to the chamber floors.
 
You can make National Popular Vote a reality. Use this convenient form to email your Maine legislators and ask them to pass the National Popular Vote bill (LD 1578).

Write your legislators
It's official: the Editorial Board of the Portland Press Herald has endorsed the National Popular Vote (NPV). Click here to read.
Shortcomings of the current system:
  • Five of our 46 Presidents came into office without winning the most popular votes nationwide.
  • The current state-by-state winner-take-all system regularly enables a few thousand votes in a small number of states to decide the Presidency—thereby fueling post-election controversies and threatening the country’s stability.
  • The current system could easily result in the U.S. House of Representatives choosing the President.
Write your legislators
What National Popular Vote will do:
  •  Apply the one-person-one-vote principle to presidential elections
  • Guarantee the presidency to the candidate who gets the most votes in all 50 states and D.C.
  • Give candidates a reason to campaign in all parts of all 50 states, thereby making every voter, in every state, politically relevant in every presidential election
  • Increase voter turnout
  • Help ensure the peaceful transfer of power in presidential elections
How the National Popular Vote works:

The current winner-take-all method of awarding electoral votes is not in the U.S. Constitution. 
 
The Constitution says: “Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors.”
 
The Constitution does not encourage, discourage, require, or prohibit the use of any particular way of awarding a state's electoral votes. The Constitution gives the states exclusive control over the choice of method of awarding their electoral votes, as illustrated by the fact that Maine awards 2 of its 4 electoral votes by district.
 
The National Popular Vote law will take effect when enacted by states with a majority of the electoral votes (270 of 538). Then, the presidential candidate winning the most popular votes in all 50 states and DC will get all the electoral votes from all of the enacting states. That is, the candidate winning the most popular votes nationwide will be guaranteed enough electoral votes to become President.
 
Under the National Popular Vote law, no voter will have their vote cancelled out because their choice differed from majority sentiment. Instead, every voter’s vote will be added directly into the national count for the candidate of their choice. This will ensure that every voter, in every state, will be politically relevant in every presidential election—regardless of where they live.
Write your legislators
Status of National Popular Vote:
 
Sixteen states and the District of Columbia (with 205 electoral votes) have already enacted the National Popular Vote Compact into law. This includes 4 small states (Delaware, Hawaii, Rhode Island, Vermont), 9 medium-sized states (Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington), 3 big states (California, Illinois, New York), and the District of Columbia.
 
The National Popular Vote Compact will take effect when passed by states with an additional 65 electoral votes. The Compact has previously passed one legislative chamber in 8 additional states with another 78 electoral votes (including the Maine Senate).
 
According to a recent Pew poll, "Nearly two-thirds of U.S. adults (65%) say the way the president is elected should be changed so that the winner of the popular vote nationwide wins the presidency." This includes 82% of Democrats, 63% of moderate or liberal Republicans, and 47% of all Republicans.