ANNAPOLIS, April 10, 2007 - Governor Martin O'Malley today signed the National Popular Vote bill. Maryland thus became the first state to enact state legislation to guarantee that the presidential candidate who receives the most votes in all 50 states will win the Presidency. status of HB 148 status of SB 634
The National Popular Vote bill in Maryland enacts the interstate compact entitled the "Agreement Among the States to Elect the President by National Popular Vote." Identical bills have been introduced by 305 legislators in 47 states around the country.
The enactment of the legislation in Maryland came only 411 days after National Popular Vote held its initial press conference on February 23, 2006. The press conference featured former Congressmen John Anderson and John Buchanan, former U.S. Senator Birch Bayh, Dr. John R. Koza (originator of the proposal), Barry Fadem (President of National Popular Vote), Chellie Pingree (then President of Common Cause), Rob Richie (Executive Director of Fair Vote), and Kirk Clay (Common Cause).
Maryland Governor O'Malley signs National Popular Vote bill. Sitting (from left): Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, Senate President Mike Miller, Gov. Martin O'Malley, and Speaker Mike Busch. Standing (from left): Delegates Barbara Frush; Senators Verna Jones, Catherine Pugh, Roy Dyson, Chris Falkenhagen, and Jamie Raskin (main sponsor of SB 634); Ryan O'Donnell (Fair Vote Action Maryland), former U.S. Senator Birch Bayh of Indiana; Hannah Powers; Delegates Jon Cardin and Sheila Hixson (main sponsor of HB 148); Raskin aides Carol McDermott and Alice Wilkerson; Delegates Jim Gilchrist, Susan Lee, Veronica Turner, and Keith Haynes.
The Maryland bill takes effect when states cumulatively possessing a majority of the electoral votes enact identical legislation. There are 538 electoral votes in total, and a majority is 270.
On April 2, the Maryland House of Delegates passed the National Popular Vote bill.
Washington Post story New York Times story Baltimore Sun story
On March 28, the Maryland Senate gave its final approval (third reading) to the National Popular Vote bill in Maryland (SB 634). The Senate bill was sponsored in the Maryland Senate by Senators Jamie Raskin (a professor of constitutional law at American University) and James Brochin.
Dionne column in Washington Post 9News-Now story Washington Post article on Senate vote
Former U.S. Senator Birch Bayh (right) confers with Maryland Senator Jamie Raskin on National Popular Vote bill in Maryland. Senator Bayh championed nationwide election of the President while representing Indiana in the U.S. Senate. Senator Raskin, who is professor of constitutional law at American University Law School in Washington, was main sponsor of the National Popular Vote law in the Maryland Senate. The main sponsor of the law in the the House by Delegates was Ways and Means Chair Sheila Hixson (not shown).
On March 21, former Senator Birch Bayh (D-Indiana) and former Congressman John Buchanan (R-Alabama) spoke before the Democratic and Republican caucuses of members of the Maryland House of Delegates on the National Popular Vote bills in Maryland ( HB 148 and SB 634 ). Both Bayh and Buchanan testified earlier at a hearing in the Maryland Senate.
On February 6, former congressman John Buchanan, Ryan O'Donnell of FairVote Action, and Larry Sokol of National Popular Vote appeared at a hearing of the Ways and Means Committee of the Maryland House of Delegates.
Baltimore Sun story Frederick News-Post editorial Testimony
Left to right at witness table: Larry Sokol of National Popular Vote, former congressman John Buchanan, and Ryan O'Donnell of FairVote Action
Maryland House Ways and Means Committee
The National Popular Vote bill (HB 148) was introduced in the House by Delegates Sheila Hixson, Kumar P. Barve, Carolyn J. B. Howard, Nancy J. King, Craig Rice, John A. Olszewski, Jr., Frank S. Turner, and Peter F. Murphy.
Maryland State Senators Jamie Raskin (a professor of constitutional law at American University) and James Brochin have introduced the National Popular Vote bill (SB 634) in the Senate.
Ryan O'Donnell, Communications Director of FairVote, is actively working with Maryland legislators to secure enactment of the National Popular Vote bill in Maryland.
The National Popular Vote bill would guarantee that the presidential candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia will win the Presidency. The National Popular Vote bill would enact an interstate compact entitled the "Agreement Among the States to Elect the President by National Popular Vote" in Maryland.
Under the current system of electing the President, a candidate may win a majority of the Electoral College without having a majority of the nationwide popular vote. The National Popular Vote bill would reform the Electoral College by guaranteeing the Presidency to the presidential candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states (and the District of Columbia). The bill would enact the proposed interstate compact entitled the "Agreement Among the States to Elect the President by National Popular Vote." The compact would take effect only when enacted, in identical form, by states possessing a majority of the membership of the Electoral College (that is 270 of 538 electoral votes). Under the compact, all of the members of the Electoral College from all states belonging to the compact would be from the same political party as the winner of nationwide popular vote. Thus, the presidential candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states (and the District of Columbia) will be guaranteed a majority of the Electoral College, and hence the Presidency. Because the compact guarantees a majority of the Electoral College to the winner of most popular votes nationwide, the compact has the additional benefit of eliminating the possibility that a presidential election might be thrown into the U.S. House of Representatives (with each state casting one vote).
