NPV uses states' constitutional authority to secure an equally meaningful presidential vote for all Americans. Under the interstate compact, states allocate their electors to the winner of the national popular vote. The compact goes into effect once a majority of electors are accounted for.

The Maryland House of Delegates passed the plan on April 2nd by a vote of 85 to 54, joining the State Senate which passed it on March 28 by a vote of 29 to 17.

Katrina Vanden Heuvel of The Nation meanwhile blogged her support this morning:

What's Right with Maryland

Justice Louis Brandeis once said, "It is one of the happy accidents of the federal system that a single courageous state may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory, and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country." The Maryland General Assembly has taken advantage of this "happy accident" to pass a National Popular Vote bill and is expected to pass a Living Wage bill today as well.