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The growing campaign to elect the president by popular vote met two defeats on Thursday, as the governor of one swing state rejected a bill to add his state’s Electoral College votes to the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, while lawmakers in another did the same.
Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak unexpectedly became the first Democratic governor in the country to veto a bill to join the compact, meaning the state’s six electoral votes won’t get added to the 189 that are already part of the compact. Sisolak defended his decision with the fallacious claim that the Electoral College benefits small states such as Nevada, and his veto statement leaves little room for a future reversal. Supporters lack the votes in the legislature to override Sisolak’s veto, and it appears unlikely that they will be able to do so while Sisolak remains governor.
Shortly after Sisolak issued his veto, Maine's Democratic-run state House voted 76-66 to reject a bill to add Maine’s four Electoral College votes to the compact, even though Democratic state senators had passed the legislation earlier this month. No Republicans voted in favor of the bill, but it was the opposition of 21 Democrats that ultimately killed it.
Elections from 2019 through 2022 will determine whether Democrats have the potential to pass the compact in enough states with a majority of 270 electoral votes that would be needed for the agreement to take effect by 2024. Reformers can still reach this 270-vote threshold without Maine and Nevada, but doing so would require nearly everything else to go right, and these two states represented the lowest-hanging fruit, given that Democrats control both.
Nevertheless, 2019 has seen significant progress for the compact: Colorado, Delaware, and New Mexico have already joined, and Oregon may soon follow. This week, Oregon Democrats advanced a bill to join the compact out of state House committee and onward to the full chamber, where supporters are optimistic it will pass after the state Senate passed the measure in April. If it does, Democratic Gov. Kate Brown is expected to sign the bill into law and add Oregon's seven electoral votes, which would bring the compact to 196 electoral votes.
