National Popular Vote to see floor vote in Mass.

Posted on November 6th, 2007 Jack No comments  Print This Post

Ballot Access News reports that the National Popular Vote plan “cleared all House Committee hurdles on October 24, and will probably receive a vote on the House floor in the next ten days.”

What are the compact’s prospects in Massachusetts? It’s hard to tell, but a betting man would say “good.”

Mitt Romney is governor and a contender for the Republican presidential nomination. Republicans do not like National Popular Vote. While the battleground/spectator state divide is relatively indiscriminate in partisan impact, small states get affirmative action in the Electoral College as a result of Senate malapportionment. Right or wrong, the Republican establishment seems to calculate that bonus is stable. So Republican governors like Schwarzenegger, reform credentials notwithstanding, veto the thing.

What about the state General Court? In the Senate, Democrats have a veto-proof majority. Same in the House of Representatives. Massachusetts well could be the second state to sign on, following Maryland (D legislature, D governor) last April.

NationalPopularVote.com (linked above) has a neat map tracking the status of the compact.