{"id":2212628,"date":"2024-04-03T21:40:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-04T01:40:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/maine-moves-to-join-democratic-led-pact-to-elect-president-by-popular-vote-instead-of-electoral-college\/"},"modified":"2024-04-03T21:40:23","modified_gmt":"2024-04-04T01:40:23","slug":"maine-moves-to-join-democratic-led-pact-to-elect-president-by-popular-vote-instead-of-electoral-college","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/maine-moves-to-join-democratic-led-pact-to-elect-president-by-popular-vote-instead-of-electoral-college\/","title":{"rendered":"Maine considers joining Democratic-led initiative to elect president based on popular vote, bypassing Electoral College"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fmaine-moves-to-join-democratic-led-pact-to-elect-president-by-popular-vote-instead-of-electoral-college%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2212628&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Maine&#8217;s state legislature passed a bill tying Electoral College \u200dvotes to the national popular vote, awaiting Gov. Janet Mills&#8217; decision. This \u2062move aligns with a national initiative aiming to elect the \u2064president based on popular vote \u200coutcomes. The bill&#8217;s approval faced divided opinions, with Republicans expressing concerns about the \u200dplan bypassing constitutional processes. Democrats generally support the National Popular Vote movement for its potential to ensure fair representation.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>A new <a href=\"http:\/\/washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/maine\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Maine<\/a> bill was passed by the <a href=\"http:\/\/washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/state-legislature\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>state legislature <\/a>on Wednesday that would tie Maine\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/electoral-college\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Electoral College<\/a> votes for president to the country\u2019s popular vote. <\/p>\n<p>The bill narrowly passed the state\u2019s lower chamber in a 73-72 vote. It was then <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mainepublic.org\/politics\/2024-04-03\/national-popular-vote-bill-heads-to-maine-gov-janet-mills\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>approved<\/a> by the state Senate, and it now heads to the desk of Gov. <a href=\"http:\/\/washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/janet-mills\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Janet Mills<\/a> (D-ME), who has not indicated whether she will sign the legislation. If she does, the state would join a national movement where each state in the agreement would assign their Electoral College votes to the candidate who wins the national popular vote.<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>Gov. Janet Mills (D-ME) delivers her State of the State address, Jan. 30, 2024, at the State House in Augusta, Maine. (AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty, File)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThe Maine legislature\u2019s approval of the NPV bill gets our country one step closer to a goal that already enjoys broad bipartisan support and simply makes sense: electing the president by popular vote,\u201d former Michigan Republican Party Chairman Saul Anuzis told the<em> Washington Examiner<\/em>. \u201cThe National Popular Vote plan advances the principle of one-person, one-vote when electing the president. That\u2019s good for every voter, the integrity of our elections, and the health of our democracy. Period.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Anuzis\u2019s support as a Republican is rare because the NPV movement is largely supported by Democrats. Republicans have claimed that the movement tries to go around the <a href=\"http:\/\/washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/constitution\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Constitution<\/a> and diminishes states\u2019 influence in the<a href=\"http:\/\/washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/2024-election\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title> general election.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Maine Republicans were mostly united in opposition to the bill, but some have supported it. The state\u2019s Democrats, mostly in favor of the NPV movement, still had some holdouts in the votes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople tend to assume that rural, smaller-population states \u2014 which tend to be conservative \u2014 are well-represented<em> <\/em>by the current system. But that\u2019s not true,\u201d Anuzis said. \u201cUnder the current system, four out of five American voters are ignored in the general election for president. Under the current system, candidates have no reason to campaign in or address the concerns of voters living in non-battleground states.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Democratic state Rep. Steve Moriarty claimed that the current electoral system reduces Maine\u2019s role because it\u2019s only worth four Electoral College votes, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mainepublic.org\/politics\/2024-04-02\/bill-joining-maine-in-popular-vote-compact-narrowly-clears-house\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>according<\/a> to Maine Public Radio. He also claimed the current system does not work because the election system often comes down to a half-dozen swing states. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title><strong>CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The state would join 16 other states that have already agreed to support the presidential candidate that wins the popular vote. But the 16-state compact would only be activated if they have a total of 270 Electoral College votes, which would decide the presidential election.<\/p>\n<p>The compact comes as the 2024 presidential election is expected to be decided by <a href=\"http:\/\/washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/arizona\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Arizona<\/a>, Georgia, <a href=\"http:\/\/washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/michigan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Michigan<\/a>, Nevada, <a href=\"http:\/\/washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/north-carolina\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>North Carolina<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/pennsylvania\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Pennsylvania<\/a>, and Wisconsin. Former President <a href=\"http:\/\/washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Donald Trump<\/a> is leading President <a href=\"http:\/\/washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/joe-biden\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Joe Biden<\/a> in six of the seven states, according to a<em> Wall Street Journal<\/em> poll <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/politics\/elections\/trump-biden-poll-swing-states-ad594acb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>released<\/a> on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Maine&#8217;s state legislature passed a bill linking its Electoral College votes to the national popular vote. The bill narrowly cleared the lower chamber 73-72 before Senate approval. It awaits the governor&#8217;s signature to become law<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2643,"featured_media":2212629,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP24094621326640-1024x591.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2212628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP24094621326640-1024x591.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2212628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2643"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2212628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2212628\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2212629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2212628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2212628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2212628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}