Supporters of a bill to bring Maine to join other states in moving away from the Electoral College and toward a popular vote system for presidential elections say it’s time for a change.
“The way states award electoral votes today creates problems for our nation,” said Rep. Art Bell (D-Yarmouth). “The current system has elected the second-place candidate twice in our lifetime and five times in the history of the country. Five presidents out of 46 is not an error rate we should be proud of.
Bell is the primary sponsor of LD 1578, “An Act to Adopt an Interstate Compact to Elect the President of the United States by National Popular Vote.”
Maine lawmakers have considered similar versions of the same bill since 2007, but failed to adhere to the pact.
Under the compact, all of a state’s electoral votes are allocated to the presidential slate with the most popular votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
So far, 16 states and DC have agreed to join the pact, representing 205 electoral votes. But more states need to join to get 270 electoral votes so the system can be used in presidential elections across the country, Bell told members of the Legislature’s Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee on Monday.
Maine has only four electoral votes, and its supporters have argued that moving to a popular vote system would make small states like Maine more relevant.
But opponents say Maine is already well-positioned because it’s one of only two states splitting its electoral votes. For example, in 2020, former President Donald Trump gained one electoral vote in Maine by winning the 2nd Congressional District, while President Joe Biden gained three electoral votes in Maine by winning the 1st Congressional District and statewide voting.
Jon Reisman, a retired University of Maine at Machias professor and 1998 Republican candidate for the 2nd Congressional District, said the Electoral College is a way to balance power between the states and the federal government.
“The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is too clever an effort to circumvent the constitutional amendment process,” he said.
Jasper Hendricks, a Tennessee resident who worked on Hillary Clinton’s campaign, said he feared a change in the current process would be disruptive.
“It’s not ready for prime time,” he said. “This will only cause more confusion.”
Yet Chris Pearson, a former Vermont state representative, told the committee that because a handful of swing states dominate presidential elections, only 18 percent of the country will choose the next leader.
“People are losing confidence in our systems,” he said. “Our democracy is on the ropes. But you have before you an idea firmly anchored in the Constitution and supported by two out of three voters.”
The committee will vote on the bill in the coming weeks.