The Vermont Legislature is considering S.270, the National Popular Vote plan. The goal of this bill is to ensure that the U.S. presidential candidate who receives the most votes will be elected president. The bill has been introduced in 48 states. Maryland, New Jersey and Illinois have passed it, and it has passed 13 additional legislative chambers, including Arkansas, California, Colorado, Hawaii and Washington. S.270 recently passed the Vermont Senate and is now under consideration in the House.

Once this bill has passed in enough states to have 270 electoral votes, those states will enter into an interstate compact. The states would then be contractually bound to cast their electoral votes for the winner of the popular vote in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. It means the person who gets the most votes gets elected!

It is the right thing to do: It would make every vote equal and create a system that is consistent with the one person, one vote principle, but it also would benefit Vermont and Vermont voters.

The current system for picking the president is unfair, unequal and undemocratic to the vast majority of American voters, including us here in Vermont. The candidates actively compete for votes in only a few states (the so-called "battleground" states). These key states represent less than one-quarter of the population and less than one-third of the states. The rest of us are effectively relegated to the sidelines. For example, when Vermonters want to volunteer for a campaign, they get in their cars and drive to New Hampshire – the nearest battleground state.

With so little attention given to two-thirds of the states it's clear we need to change the system. The campaigns don't even bother asking our opinion about the candidates because Democrats know they will win Vermont and Republicans know they will lose. In the end, neither party's candidate courts our votes because the outcome is a foregone conclusion. We deserve to have candidates address the issues important to us.

When it comes to our spectator status, Vermont is in the same boat with California, Texas and New York. Large and small states are equally victimized by the winner-take-all system. Candidates actively compete for New Hampshire's four electoral votes and virtually ignore the huge electoral prizes of California, Texas, and New York – all spectator states.

The remedy for this inequity is to join the National Popular Vote compact. It would ensure that every vote in every state would count equally. National Popular vote would not get rid of the Electoral College. It would only change how those electoral votes are delivered. Candidates would then have to compete for every vote, not only the 50 percent required to win a state. When every vote counts, every vote matters. Candidates could not afford to ignore Vermont just because it is a blue state.

We would remove a significant disincentive for candidates to campaign in Vermont. Vermont voters will have a much better opportunity to interact with the presidential campaigns where it most comfortable and meaningful to them — in their home state and home neighborhood. A Vermont voter would then enjoy the same power in picking the president as a voter in Ohio or Florida or Pennsylvania.

I urge the Legislature to pass S.270. Vermont should join other states in the movement to a popular vote for president. Every vote in the nation should count equally and the candidate with the most votes should win. Enacting S.270 is the right thing to do.