New Mexico Democrat Gov signs national popular vote bill

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, signed into law this week a bill allocating her state's five votes to whomever wins the most individual votes nationwide, bypassing the electoral college system.

New Mexico is a winner-take-all state, meaning that normally their five votes are all given to the single presidential candidate who wins in the state. It is the fourteenth state to join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, which is a political move pushed primarily by Democrats to have the President selected by the popular vote total directly.

To take effect the compact requires 270 electoral votes. The addition of New Mexico brings the current total to 189. It was brought to 184 just a week ago when Delaware signed on.

In New Mexico the bill was sponsored by Democratic state Sen. Carlos Cisneros, who said he hopes this will help eliminate the "archaic" system, and believes it will give the state "more influence" in national politics.

"For us it is crucial that the election for president is predicated on popular vote rather than the traditional and historical way of doing that," said Cisneros.

Democrats running for President in 2020 are largely behind the idea, as well. Liberal pundits and activists want to go even further, with talk of House and Senate national popular votes, or even eliminating the Senate.

The agenda has been resisted by Republican legislatures, particularly in states that will see their voice dramatically diminished if not eliminated in presidential politics by a national popular vote. The biggest benefactors will be large, centralized population centers in blue coastal states. Democrats nationwide would therefore see their agenda take center-stage, even in states where the majority of voters do not share those values.

Like the ticket sales for the movie Unplanned, it's another graphic illustration of the cultural divide in the country.

TheBlaze has a lot more on the subject of the electoral college and national popular vote here, including maps and a full explainer from PragerU.