[JURIST] The Maryland Senate [General Assembly website] passed a bill Wednesday to ignore the US Electoral College [official website] in presidential elections, instead awarding the state's 10 electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote. Currently, the state's 10 votes go to the candidate who won the popular vote in Maryland [JURIST news archive]. The Senate approved SB 634 [text, PDF] by a 29-to-17 vote, and it now goes to the state House [HB 148 text, PDF]. The plan would only go into action if enough states representing a majority of the nation's 538 electoral votes adopt it, making it unlikely that it would be in effect by next year's presidential election.

Other states are also considering the plan as a way to avoid a situation where a candidate wins the popular vote but loses the election, as happened with Democrat Al Gore in 2000. The Arkansas House approved a similar idea [Harrison Daily Times report] last week. AP has more.