According to the local progressive blog Democracy for New Mexico, state Rep. Mimi Stewart, an Albuquerque Democrat, will introduce the national popular vote bill in this year’s 60-day session.

The bill “would guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states.” This November’s elections were no reason to dispute this, but one needs only to look back eight years to the George W. Bush victory over Al Gore for an example of a president being elected without receiving the majority of the popular vote nationwide.“It’s time for New Mexico to support a fair system that values every vote equally,” Stewart said in the blog post. “The current winner-take-all system allows for a candidate to win the Presidency without winning the most votes in all 50 states. Recent elections proved that the Electoral College system requires massive reform. I firmly believe that the National Popular Vote proposal is the right choice for our state.”

There is widespread support in New Mexico for the effort, according to a recent Public Policy Polling survey showing that 76 percent of New Mexicans polled, including clear majorities of Democrats, Republicans and others, believe the candidate who gets the most votes nationwide should be the winner.

If the national popular vote bill passes states with 270 electoral votes, the amount needed to win the presidency, the law will go into effect in the states where the law is passed. So far, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland and New Jersey have all enacted the bill.

What would this mean for New Mexico? Most likely, less visits by the presidential candidates. Out of more than 131 million votes cast nationwide in this year’s presidential election, just 830,000 were cast in New Mexico according to the Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. This would also most likely mean less TV commercials by candidates in New Mexico — perhaps part of the reason New Mexicans would prefer the national popular vote to the current system.