Maine renews effort to elect president by national popular vote

This week, Democrats in Maine's legislature renewed their effort to elect the president according to the national popular vote when they held a hearing on a bill that would have the state join a multistate alliance to implement just such a change.

The bill under consideration would add Maine's four Electoral College votes to the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, under which member states would collectively award their electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote. The compact would come into force only once states with a majority of electoral votes have joined.

Currently, the statewide winner gets two of Maine’s electoral votes, while whichever candidate wins in either of the state's two congressional districts gets one additional vote per district.