NPV vote redo expected Thursday

Update: The issue was tabled Thursday. 

The National Popular Vote bill is expected to come up for a second debate and vote Thursday in the Maine Senate.

The issue first came up in the Maine Senate Monday. With Sen. David Hastings III, R-Fryeburg, absent, they voted 17 to 17. On Tuesday, Hastings said he is against the bill so, providing everyone is there and votes the same, it won’t pass.

Advocates for the bill, however, planned to lobby their senators before the second vote.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. John Martin, D-Eagle Lake, would allow Maine to enter an interstate compact, dedicating the state’s four electorates to the winner of the national popular vote. Used as a means to circumvent the Electoral College, it wouldn’t take effect until enough states agreed to make up a majority of the college – 270 delegates.

Monday’s vote was down party lines – Democrats for and Republicans against. Sen. Bill Diamond, D-Windham, was the only exception, voting against it.

“I didn’t see a compelling reason to change the system,” said Diamond, a former Secretary of State. “What we have now is working well.”

Neither the Senate President nor the Senate Minority Leader expected it to be a partisan vote.

Senate Minority Leader Carol Weston, R-Montville, said Wednesday that the Electoral College is a constitutional issue, and a debate that should be held on the national level.

Her views were the same as many of her colleagues – if Maine votes differently than the popular vote, why should the state’s delegates vote in the opposite direction as their state?

Senate President Beth Edmonds, D-Freeport, also agrees with her colleagues. The college is an outdated system, she said.

“When the whole thing was created, there were less states and a beginning democracy,” she said. “Time has passed, and people understand, one person, one vote.”

She added: “It’s a growing movement across the country. Most people think their vote is counted and matters. Very few people understand the Electoral College.”

Both Edmonds and Jon Bartholomew of Common Cause guess that the partisan divide of the vote may have something to do with the 2000 fiasco in Florida. Bartholomew said it has been a bi-partisan effort across the country, with many Republican leaders jumping on board.

“It won’t benefit either party,” Bartholomew said. “It’s just about fairness and doing what’s right. Some people with short memories are only looking at year 2000.”

While opponents contend that Maine will be less attractive to candidates, Bartholomew thinks otherwise.

“All of New England would be interesting,” he said. “A candidate coming through Boston would hit every state in the region because it would be easier to do and every vote would count equally.”

Common Cause has led the advocacy on the issue. Chellie Pingree, now a Congressional candidate, was president of the organization when the movement first got started.

When the movement was announced in 2006, Pingree said: "What makes the National Popular Vote plan particularly promising is how neatly it fits in with American traditions. A century ago it was states that first established women's suffrage and direct election of U.S. Senators. Under the U.S. Constitution it is states that have the power to fix our broken presidential election system,”

Bartholomew, Media Reform Campaign Coordinator for the organization in Maine, has worked on the issue in the state.

“Common Cause has reached out to our membership, educated our membership on the issue, and asked them to take action,” Bartholomew said. “Scores of people called their state legislators, testified and reached out to other groups.”

He added Tuesday: “We’re going to keep pushing until this deadlock is broken. I believe the Legislature will understand this is the right thing to do for Maine.”