The state of Maine took one more step toward joining the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact this week when the state Senate passed a bill adopting the proposal. It still has to be passed in the House and get their Democratic governor’s signature, but if that happens they will be the fifteenth state to do so. The fact that it only snuck through the Senate with a 19-16 margin indicates that support for the measure is far from universal across Maine. (The Hill)

The Maine Senate has passed a bill that would award the state’s Electoral College votes to the winner of the national popular vote in a presidential election.

The Bangor Daily News reports that the state chamber approved the bill in a 19-16 vote on Tuesday.

If passed by the state House and signed by Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D), the state would become the latest to join National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, which is an agreement among a number of states to give their electoral college votes to whichever presidential candidate wins the popular vote.

In some ways, it remains amazing to me that anyone would willingly sign on to disenfranchise the votes of their entire state in this fashion. Of course, the measure is only being approved in largely blue states where liberals are frustrated by the Constitution and would rather do away with the Electoral College entirely if they could. This is simply what they view as the next best thing.

This is some pretty short-sighted thinking here if you ask me. Having been around for a sufficient period of time, I know that the nation’s political preferences tend to migrate back and forth in waves over generations. Sooner or later the day will come when another Republican president wins the White House with a majority of the popular vote. At that point, assuming this disaster of a bill ever makes it into law, all the liberals in the blue states that voted for the Democrat will see their EC votes wiped from the pages of history, with the Republican winning in a landslide fashion not seen since Reagan was in office. I wonder how they’ll feel then?

Of course, we may never find out. Even if Maine signs on to this, the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact will still be 78 electoral votes short of taking effect. They’ve been able to pass it in the biggest blue states (New York, Calfornia, Illinois, and New Jersey) but they’re running out of those quickly. And even if they somehow scrape up the rest that are needed, there’s no clear sign that this will pass Constitutional muster and survive the inevitable court challenges that follow.

Exit question: If this did somehow pass and take effect and the situation with a GOP president I predicted above takes place, will Maine scramble to repeal the law? Be careful what you wish for. You just might get it.