An Auburn Democrat has introduced a bill that would prevent Maine voters in the northern, more rural part of the state from awarding an electoral college vote to a presidential candidate other than statewide popular vote winner.
If passed, the bill would ensure that Maine’s Second Congressional District would not be able to award one electoral college vote to a Republican candidate if southern Maine voted by a wide enough margin for the Democratic candidate, as happened in 2016, 2020, and 2024.
The bill, filed by Rep. Adam Lee (D-Auburn), would make Maine’s Electoral College votes winner take all going forward. The trigger for this happening, if it becomes law, is contingent upon the state of Nebraska doing the same. Nebraska and Maine are the only states in the country that award their Electoral College votes by Congressional District.
The partisan logic of the bill is that should Nebraska, a conservative state, change its laws in a way that benefits Republicans nationally, then Maine, being a Democratic-leaning state, would automatically make a similar change, thereby negating the potential influence such changes might have on presidential elections.
Lee’s bill, LD 1356, is entitled, “An Act to Change the State’s Method of Allocating Electoral Votes from a Congressional District Method to a Winner-take-all Method
Contingent on the State of Nebraska Changing its Method of
Allocating Electoral Votes“.
The summary of the bill reads:
“This bill requires the State’s presidential electors to cast their ballots for the presidential and vice-presidential candidates who received the highest number of votes in the State according to the ranked-choice voting process contingent on the State of Nebraska changing that state’s system of allocation of electoral votes from a congressional district method to a winner-take-all method of electoral vote allocation.”
LD 1356 is a considered a partisan bill because the co-sponsors are all Democrats. Notable names cosponsoring are Rep. Kristen Cloutier (D-Lewiston), Rep. Mana Adbi (D-Lewiston), Rep. Michel Lajoie (D-Lewiston) and Sen. Peggy Rotundo (D-Androscoggin) — all of Lewiston. Rep. Ambereen Rana (D-Bangor) and Rep. Amy Roeder (D-Bangor) are also signed on to the bill.
If Maine were to allocate its Electoral College votes by majority rule, it would impact the areas of rural Maine that do not have the population centers of Portland, Bangor, and Lewiston/Auburn.
The existing system is in place to allow the vastly rural state to have a say in the Presidential election. A bill changing the current system, put forward by legislators from largely urban centers, may face stiff opposition. This will play out at the bill’s initial public hearing.
This isn’t the first time Democratic politicians in Maine have attempted legal maneuvers to mitigate or limit the political impact of Maine’s more conservative northern voters.
Prior to the 2024 presidential primaries, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a far left Democrat appointed by Democratic lawmakers, attempted to unilaterally remove President Donald Trump from Maine’s ballots, thereby blocking hundreds of thousands of Mainers from voting for the candidate of their choice.
Bellows withdrew her attempt at rigging Maine’s presidential ballots after a similar endeavor in Colorado was found unconstitutional.
Friday afternoon the bill was referenced by the House Clerk to the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee (VLA) to have a public hearing. This is the first step for the bill to begin its journey through Augusta.
The VLA Committee has jurisdiction over all things that involve the state’s elections.
Once the public hearing date is set by the committee the public will have a chance to testify as well as interested parties that may include the League of Women Voters and the Secretary of State’s Office.
Public hearing schedules may be accessed on the legislature’s website and calendar.
