AUGUSTA — Lawmakers in the state’s House of Representatives on Thursday rejected a bill that would have put Maine among a group of states seeking to move away from the Electoral College to the popular vote for electing a U.S. president.

The bill, LD 511, was defeated 60-85. The issue is now all but dead in the Legislature for this session.

Also on Wednesday, the bill lost its second bid in the state Senate where it died on a tie vote, 17-17. In an initial vote Tuesday, the Senate approved the bill, 17-16.

The measure would have allowed Maine to join a compact of states in which the popular vote would determine who was elected president. The current system depends on a complicated process, which can vary from state to state, and which allows a candidate who may not have received the most votes to be elected president.

That was the outcome in 2000 when Democratic Vice President Al Gore won about 500,000 more votes than his Republican opponent, George W. Bush. Bush, however, won 271 electoral college votes to Gore’s 265, and after a protracted legal battle that ended in the U.S. Supreme Court, Bush was named president.

On Thursday, opponents said the move for Maine to join the popular-vote compact would likely have faced a constitutional challenge.

They also said the move would diminish Maine’s already limited clout when it comes to presidential elections. The state already uses a unique system for apportioning its four Electoral College votes based on the outcomes in the state’s two congressional districts.

State Rep. Aaron Libby, R-Waterboro, speaking against the bill, likened it to lawmakers wanting a smaller slice rather than a larger slice of pie.

He said under the current system, Electoral College votes in Maine amounted to 0.74 percent of the presidential vote. He said if the state moved to a popular vote, based on the U.S. population the state would only control 0.41 percent of the presidential vote.

“The bottom line is that slice of pie, under this pending motion, is going to be a smaller slice of pie — about 43 percent smaller,” Libby said. “I don’t want half a slice of pie. If I’m going to get a pie, I want the whole thing.”

Others said that switching to a popular vote would take Maine off the radar screens of most presidential candidates because they would likely campaign and spend money in states with the largest populations.

But supporters of the bill said it would allow every voter to know their vote counted when they voted for president.

Rep. Diane Russell, D-Portland, said that when state lawmakers are elected, they are done so by popular vote in each House and Senate district.  

“When we do that, we trust their decision, their vote matters and that is important,” Russell said. “So, if we can trust Mainers to vote for us, don’t you think we should trust them and empower them to vote for the president of the United States?”

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