I’m writing because I was pleasantly surprised to see news that Virginia’s legislators had voted in favor of joining Maine and other states in the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.

This was my first time learning of the compact, so I did some looking into how it would work. The goal, through individual state law, is to join together enough states to reach the 270 Electoral College votes necessary to collectively determine the winner of the presidential election. The compact only kicks in when the group passes the 270 delegate mark.

I was troubled, however, when I saw the most recent news on it from Maine: last year, we narrowly avoided leaving it. According to the compact, as long as it’s not within six months of the next presidential election, any state may withdraw. In April 2025, our House voted 76-71 to withdraw Maine from the compact, but the Senate voted 18-16 against withdrawing. We came extremely close to backing out. This would be a mistake for several reasons, not least that 72% of Maine voters support the nationwide popular vote election of the president.

Our legislators should refrain from withdrawing from the compact, both in order to respect the will of Mainers, and to keep us on track toward equal representation for every voter across the country.

Liam McKenna
Thompson