Oregon just joined the National Popular Vote Compact. Here's how it could take effect by 2024

In another step toward electing presidents by popular vote, Democratic Gov. Kate Brown has signed a new law that adds Oregon's seven Electoral College votes to the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. This agreement would assign each member state's electoral votes to the winner of the nationwide popular vote once states representing a majority of 270 electoral votes have joined. Compact members now collectively account for 196 electoral votes.

As shown on the map above (where each state is sized according to its electoral vote), there's a challenging but plausible path for the compact to reach 270 votes by the 2024 presidential election. Because Republicans have consistently opposed the concept of majority rule, Democrats would need to win control of governorships and legislatures in a number of states over the next few years in order for those states to enter the compact, along with convincing their party's lawmakers to pass the plan.

On the target list are Arizona, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. If all of these states turn blue by 2022 and join the compact, that would put the compact over the top—and would, at long last, see the U.S. join with almost every other presidential democracy to ensure that its leader is the person who wins the most votes.