An idea that has been kicked around for a while [1] is back in the news. The Maryland State Senate has passed a bill that would commit the state's electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote [2]. It is expected to be passed in the House and the Governor says he will sign it.

The bill would only take effect if enough states to make up a 270 vote Electoral College majority pass similar bills.

According to Wikipedia [3], similar bills have passed both houses in only two states (Maryland and California). California's bill was vetoed by the Governor. All but 13 states have introduced a bill in one or both houses. If Maryland's bill is passed and signed into law by the Governor, they will be the first state officially on board.

In Tennessee, HB841/SB811 [4] would enact Tennessee's participation in the plan.

It's probably a hard sell to folks who want their vote to count at the state level. On the other hand, it would make their vote count at the national level. As the Washington Post [5] column notes:

Remember, states get one electoral vote for each member of the House of Representatives plus both senators. No matter how small, every state has at least three electoral votes. The three electors from Wyoming, with an estimated 2006 population of 515,004, represent 171,668 people each. California, with a population of 36,457,549, gets 55 electors, each representing 662,865 people. A presidential vote cast in Wyoming thus has nearly four times the value of a vote in California.

So you could argue that not only has the Electoral College outlived its usefulness now that we've moved beyond travel by horse into the jet age, it's also not very democratic, either.