Maine took one step closer to reforming the Electoral College Tuesday after its Senate passed a bill to overhaul how "The Pine Tree State" chooses a U.S. president.
As the Bangor Daily News reported, the State Senate voted 19-16 on a bill that would force the state's electors to vote for the presidential candidate that wins the national popular vote.
Fifteen states have enacted into law similar bills, according to a website dedicated to seeing National Popular Vote bills passed nationwide. The bill will not become law until states that account for at least 270 electoral votes, the majority, pass it.
President Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election despite losing the popular vote to Democrat Hillary Clinton, a point Democrats have reminded Americans of ever since that election. The same thing occurred in 1824 (John Quincy Adams), 1876 (Rutherford B. Hayes), 1888 (Benjamin Harrison), and 2000 (George W. Bush).
The Electoral College gives smaller states more voting power than they would have if presidential elections were simply decided via the popular vote.