Maine Senate Approves Anti-Electoral College Legislation
News outlets report Maine’s Senate has approved legislation that would award the state’s four electoral votes to the presidential candidate who wins the nationwide popular vote.
In the 2016 election, Maine split its electoral votes. Three went to Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and one went to now-President Donald Trump. Maine is just one of two states to split its electoral votes, and 2016 marked the first time the split happened.
Maine’s Senate voted 19-16 Tuesday to join a pact of 14 other states that would allocate their electoral votes based on the candidate who wins the popular vote.
Abolishing the Electoral College is a terrible idea that hurts rural areas and smaller states like Arkansas.
Currently, presidential candidates must win majority votes in many different states in order to become president. This system forces candidates to campaign nationwide.
If the President of the United States were chosen by a nationwide popular vote, candidates could win the presidency by focusing on the seaboards — without campaigning in or considering the issues facing middle America.
Family Council has successfully opposed multiple efforts to award Arkansas’ Electoral Votes to the presidential candidate who wins the nationwide popular vote.
The last serious proposal abolishing the Electoral College in Arkansas was defeated in 2009.
Our friends at PragerU have published an excellent video explaining why the Electoral College is good for America. You can watch it below.
Photo Credit: Carol Boldt [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)]
