The National Popular Vote plan passed the New Mexico house today by a comfortable 41-27 margin. HB 383, sponsored by Rep. Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque, is part of a national effort to ensure that the winner of the popular vote wins the presidency. Once states totaling at least 270 electoral votes enact the legislation, their electoral votes would go to the winner of the national popular vote in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

New Mexico's house is the 23rd state legislative chamber to pass the proposal out of the 49 states where bills have been introduced. If the Senate approves, and Gov. Bill Richardson signs the bill, New Mexico would be the fifth state to approve the legislation. Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland and New Jersey have already passed the legislation. That is 50 electoral votes, or 19 percent of the votes necessary for the legislation to begin.

National Popular Vote summarizes recent state polls on public support for reform of the current broken Electoral College system. See:

# Southern Voters Support National Popular Vote * Arkansas 80%, Mississippi 77%, North Carolina 74%, Virginia 74%

# 2008 Battleground State Voters Support National Popular Vote * Colorado 68%, Florida 78%, Michigan 73%, Missouri 70%, New Hampshire 69%Nevada 72%, North Carolina 74%, Pennsylvania 78%, Ohio 70%, Wisconsin 71%

# Small State Voters Support National Popular Vote * Delaware 75%, New Hampshire 69%, Maine 77%, Rhode Island 74%, Vermont 75%

# 70%-79% Public Support National Popular Vote in Other States * California 70%, Connecticut 73%, Kentucky 80%, Massachusetts 73%, Minnesota 75%, Nebraska 74%, New York 70%, Washington 77%

FairVote is a strong backer of the plan, I'm a co-author of Every Vote Equal about the proposal, our Presidential Election Inequality report shows just how broken the current system is and our North Carolina team did a snazzy video about the case for change