House lawmakers in Augusta voted to approve joining the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, an agreement that could bring about sweeping changes to how the President of the United States is elected.
With a roll call vote of 74-67, representatives in the State House voted in favor of LD 1578 — An Act to Adopt an Interstate Compact to Elect the President of the United States by National Popular Vote — a bill sponsored last session by Rep. Arthur L. Bell (D-Yarmouth).
[RELATED: Maine Lawmakers Divided Over Potentially Joining the “National Popular Vote” Interstate Compact]
All House Republicans voted against the resolution alongside a handful of Democrats, including Rep. Jessica L. Fay (D-Raymond), Rep. Tavis Rock Hasenfus (D-Readfield), Rep. H. Scott Landry Jr. (D-Farmington), Rep. Anne-Marie Mastraccio (D-Sanford), and Rep. Karen L. Montell (D-Gardiner).
The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, if approved by Maine lawmakers, would award the state’s four electoral votes to whichever candidate garners the most popular votes nationwide, irrespective of who the majority of Mainers voted for at the ballot box.
[RELATED: Maine Considers Joining the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact]
National Popular Vote, an organization based in Elk Grove, Calif., was one of the primary organizations paying for lobbying on behalf of LD 1578.
According to Maine’s lobbyist disclosures, National Popular Vote hired Maine Street Solutions, LLC, whose lobbyists included Christopher Pearson, Michael Saxl, Jay Nutting, and Clara McConnell. Pearson, of Burlington, Vt., was also hired individually to work on the bill, according to records.
Before the House voted on this legislation, several lawmakers offered remarks pertaining to the resolution, including one of the bill’s co-sponsor’s Rep. Laura D. Supica (D-Bangor).
“[This resolution] enters us into an agreement that when enough states join, we in Maine will commit our electoral votes to be cast for whomever wins the popular vote across the nation,” Rep. Supica said. “Whomever gets the most votes wins, and that is why I support this bill.”
“Each person should have their vote count,” Supica continued. “It’s a matter of equality and justice and one that the people have been moving toward with voting rights from the start of this nation. Because not that long ago, not everybody could vote.”
“In fact, sadly, its still the case with some folks,” Supica said. “So it is important that we continue to stand here today and say we — all across this nation — are equal, and counted and represented as so.”
During the National Popular Vote hearing yesterday, Representative Supica appeared to advocate for migrants to be able to vote.
— The Maine Wire (@TheMaineWire) March 6, 2024
"Not that long ago, not everybody could vote. In fact, sadly, it's still the case with some folks." pic.twitter.com/7EJewAdUUW
The bill’s primary sponsor — Rep. Bell — also offered remarks in support of the legislation, emphasizing the outsized role that he believes “battleground states” have come to play in presidential elections.
“The people in the so-called battleground states – the states that are really even in terms of the two different parties – those are the states that are getting all the attention,” Bell said. “And that doesn’t feel good. I like the idea of my vote counting just as much as somebody in Ohio, or Pennsylvania, or Georgia.”
Speaking in opposition to the bill were a number of Republican lawmakers, many of whom underscored the impact that adopting a national popular vote model would likely have on Maine and it’s voice in presidential elections.
“Under this new regime, it wouldn’t matter how Maine people vote,” said Rep. David Boyer (R-Poland). “The electoral college was designed so small states — not just large population states — would have a real voice in the election of our us president.”
“Because of the electoral college,” Rep. Boyer explained, “presidential candidates work to earn Mainers’ support.”
“This bill will hurt Maine and hurt Mainers’ voices,” said Rep. James Thorne (R-Carmel). “I was elected to this body to be a voice for rural Maine citizens, and I’m here to tell you LD 1578 is blatantly wrong — not only for rural Maine, but for the entire state.”
“If the National Popular Vote Compact is adopted, we are telling our own citizens that their vote now matters less,” Rep. Thorne said. “Essentially disenfranchising thousands of Maine voters.”
Other lawmakers emphasized in their remarks before the chamber that America was designed as a democratic republic, not as a democracy.
“This bill is a terrible idea. It threatens to destroy our republic,” said Billy Bob Faulkingham (R-Winter Harbor). “The founders of our country realized the most dangerous form of government was a straight democracy. That’s why we have a democratically elected republic. This bill, right here, threatens to destroy that.”
“The state of Maine has the gold standard of electoral process,” Rep. Faulkingham continued. “We should be telling other states to decide their electors the way we do, not trying to give our votes away to bigger states. I just can’t imagine why anyone representing the people of Maine would want to throw away their vote and let it be absorbed by bigger states.”
“America has always been a republic and not a democracy,” Rep. Michael Soboleski (R-Phillips) said. “The word democracy does not appear in the Constitution even once. That is by design. We were founded as a representative constitutional republic. We were purposely built this way to protect the minority from the tyranny of the majority that comes with mob rule direct democracy.”
Some lawmakers spoke specifically to the ways in which the electoral college system ensures presidents and presidential candidates are incentivized to consider a wide range of issues both when campaigning and serving.
“When we have an electoral college as set up by the founders, we get a president that — for the most part — has broad appeal over a broad geographic area at any given time,” Rep. Robert Nutting (R-Oakland) said.
“This is a bad idea for the State of Maine,” said Rep. Nutting. “It’s a bad idea for any small state, and it’s a disastrous move for the federal government and the United States of America.”
“Rather than the concerns we have in Maine that we would like to address in the federal government,” Rep. Joshua Morris (R-Turner) said, “presidential candidates and presidents would instead focus on the needs of large cities and ignore the voices and concerns of smaller states.”
“The electoral college was developed as a compromise recognizing that folks in rural America also needed a voice,” said Rep. Austin L. Theriault (R-Fort Kent). “And for me, its important in this day in age to recognize that we don’t want presidents just campaigning in California, New York, in these big states.”
“I don’t think we should take what we have and throw it away to be decided by the larger states and the larger cities in this country,” said Rep. Caleb Joshua Ness (R-Fryeburg).
Rep. Nathan Carlow (R-Buxton) took issue not only with the end goal of the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, but also with how it goes about achieving this.
“It’s not only what the bill does, but how it does it that could fracture the fabric of the whole union,” said Rep. Carlow. “The chief complaint of the National Popular Vote campaign is that the electoral college denies the people their say. Yet — ironically — they don’t propose amending the constitution to abolish it, because they know they do not have the popular support to do so.”
Supercut:
— The Maine Wire (@TheMaineWire) March 6, 2024
Maine's GOP lawmakers fought to defend the electoral college yesterday, against a bill that would give away Maine's electors to the winner of the national popular vote. pic.twitter.com/QXwShzKUTV
Supporters of this resolution suggested during today’s debate on the chamber floor that the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is fundamentally about equity and ensuring that all voters have an equal voice in presidential elections.
“My understanding from this compact is that it’s really states agreeing that we will make sure that whoever wins the majority vote in this country is elected president,” said Rep. Jane Pringle (D-Windham).
“I look at this as a bill about equity,” Rep. Anne Perry (D-Calais) said. “This is about equity. This is about having my vote – when I was in upstate New York, in rural New York – have that same weight as every other rural residents’ in this country.”
Rep. Morgan Rielly (D-Westbrook) suggested that — despite the numerous representatives raising concerns over the impact joining this compact would have on the weight carried by the voice of rural Mainers — this arrangement would not put rural Americans at a disadvantage.
“Today we’ve heard a lot about concerns about rural voters would be at a disadvantage under a popular vote,” Rep. Rielly said. “I hear those concerns, but I don’t think that’s going to be the case.”
To support this position, Rielly suggested that “voters with power today aren’t urban or rural, they live in battleground states,” and that “America’s big cities aren’t as big as we think.” According to Rielly, adopting a popular vote model would incentivize candidates — more so than the electoral college model — “to talk to voters everywhere” and would get “people to take other people seriously.”
The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact will go into effect if, and only if, the participating states hold a majority of the country’s electoral votes — the threshold necessary for a candidate to win the presidency — which currently comes to a total of 270.
As of now, 205 electoral votes controlled by the seventeen states that have already passed legislation signing onto the Compact.
Among the states now included in the Compact are: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhone Island, Vermont, and Washington.
Click Here for More Information on LD 1578
“The electoral college was designed so small states — not just large population states — would have a real voice in the election of our us president.”
This is the key factor that people either don’t get, or simply ignore. I’m sure BELLOWS (and her ilk) is salvating at the prospect of this…
This is ridiculous. Republicans have to rise up and put an end to the liberal politicians. Are voters so dumb in this state that they vote in democrats that push these radical policies? Do they know that they are just forfeiting their say in national elections? Maine will become insignificant if this is implemented. Hopefully it is unconstitutional and will be tossed.
These Marxists are absolutely unbearable. The twisted logic and gaslighting never ceases. What happens in a decade or so when all the “new Americans “ the Marxists invited into the country actually get behind a REAL populist dictator? Like something closer to what they are used to. All of the Communists will be the first to go because they have zero practical skills. The Commies in Augusta really believe in what they are doing. When they come begging for your help, don’t.
They do not care that this violates Article II Sec 1 and Article 10 Sec 10 Clause 3 (the Compact Clause) of the Constitution.. They know it, they just do not care.
They toil every day to dismantle our democratic, constitutional republic.
The big states and cities will be the boss. Great. All because some group of activists funded by billionaires say so.
Maine should no longer be touted as “the way life should be” because it is becoming a Petri dish for leftism.
Then if the most populous states turn red — these Bozos will panic.
These idiots have no idea how they are screwing themselves. This is why they are working hard to import voters — but what they will find out is that many of those people are on the Conservative side and may be persuaded to vote Red.
Simple minds
The Founders loathed the idea of a “pure democracy” for good reason. The electoral college helps preserve the rights of the minority something the Founders found a good idea. If we should go down this road California and 2 or 3 other states will elect the POTUS and the rest of us will have no voice in it at all. This is a terrible idea but exactly what democrats want. They are not interested in constitutional rights but only in holding all the power they can steal. Tyranny will reign if this terrible idea ever becomes reality. These are the wet dreams of stupid democrat idiots.
all the commie signed up
maine becoming communist
If the majority of Maine votes for a candidate and these turds hand the electorates over to the other candidate — Well, then these turds better lock themselves in their cellars after the election.
the commies in maine dont care what the voters want
I’m going far right and offering an amendment to this bill to expand the electoral college from state electoral vote counting to county vote counting. Big cities have too much influence on the outcome of elections and can cheat like crazy.
Democrats destroy everything that they touch in their futile attempt to take control and it is a fact that they want to control the entire populace of Maine. These democrats are all working for Satan and could care less about the average Mainer and what our wishes are.
Why have an electoral college in the first place? Oh yeah, bcuz it’s in the Constitution. So was slavery, folks. That being said, a popular vote’s a nice idea–but how would we know that the votes got counted accurately? (How do we know they’re being counted accurately NOW?)
Demonrats wrecking Me., Marxists among U.S.
She’s says ” sadly it’s still the case with dome folks” not being able to vote. Sounds like “some folks” ARE NOT LEGALLY HERE , OR CITIZENS OF OUR COUNTRY OR STATE
This should be called “The National Perpetual Democrat President” vote.
Mainers keeps them communist/democrats in office. Maine voters will have absolutely no say in the election if this happens. Your vote will not count.
So for over 200 years this system has worked fine. The Dems lose the popular vote in a couple elections and now it’s a flawed system??
Seems to be a pattern to change the rules when your narrative is not met. Very scary.
“the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots & tyrants. it is it’s natural manure. “
Thomas Jefferson
Notice all the “ democratic “run states that are for this controversial bill.