By Saniya Ghanoui -- July 22, 2010
The country is one step closer to electing the president through the popular vote.
The Massachusetts Senate passed the National Popular Vote in a 28-10 vote which now goes to Gov. Deval Patrick for him to sign.
In an attempt to delete the impact of the Electoral College, the National Popular Vote bill would give the state's 12 Electoral College votes to the candidate with the highest popular vote.
This will only go into effect nationwide if states with a majority of the electoral votes, or 270 of 538, have passed similar legislation.
Five other states have approved the National Popular Vote including Illinois, New Jersey, Hawaii, Maryland and Washington, meaning states with popular vote legislation now total 73 electoral votes.
Supporters of the National Popular Vote say the Electoral College is outdated and not accurate, as witnessed by the 2000 presidential election in which Al Gore had the most popular votes but George W. Bush had the most electoral votes.
"We think the current system is broken and it's broken in some ways that I think are transparent to most people," said Rob Richie, the Executive Director for FairVote, an advocacy group that is campaigning for the approval of the National Popular Vote. "One is the candidate with fewer votes can defeat a candidate with more votes, which can't happen for really any other election we have."
House Speaker Robert DeLeo's office released a statement which said the legislation "will ensure that our presidential elections reflect the true will of the people. Speaker DeLeo is pleased that the House has enacted this measure to give each voter equal say in the election of our president."
It was not clear when exactly Patrick would receive the bill for him to review and sign.
