“The Democratic-led Maine House of Representatives rejected a bill on Monday to join an interstate effort to turn the Electoral College into a majority way to elect presidents in a second reversal on the measure that will kill it barring another flip,” the Bangor Daily News reports.

“The proposal from Senate President Troy Jackson (D) passed the Senate in mid-May and had been seesawing between passage and rejection in the lower chamber during the past month amid opposition from Republicans gearing up to back the 2020 re-election campaign of Donald Trump, the fifth president to be elected while losing the popular vote.”

“The head of the Federal Election Commission released a statement on Thursday evening reiterating, emphatically, that foreign assistance is illegal in U.S. elections,” Politico reports.

Said commissioner Ellen Weintraub: “Let me make something 100% clear to the American public and anyone running for public office: It is illegal for any person to solicit, accept, or receive anything of value from a foreign national in connection with a U.S. election. This is not a novel concept.“

“In a meeting last week in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office, Democratic lawmakers gathered to craft a plan — including specific legislative fixes — to respond to the Mueller report,” NBC News reports.

“Pelosi is hoping hearings around legislative fixes will highlight the worst wrongdoing contained in the Mueller report, and possibly broaden public support for impeachment.”

“One likely piece of legislation would be framed as ‘Duty to Report,’ requiring presidential campaign aides and entities to report foreign contacts and influence to law enforcement… Also at the top of the menu is a package of legislation to address election security and obstruction of justice by a sitting president, potentially specifically prohibiting a president from interfering in law enforcement activity.”

“A raft of legislation intended to better secure United States election systems after what the special counsel, Robert Mueller, called a ‘sweeping and systematic’ Russian attack in 2016 is running into a one-man roadblock in the form of the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky,” the New York Times reports.

“Oregon is close to becoming the 15th state to signal that it will award its Electoral College votes to the presidential candidate who receives the most votes nationwide,” the Oregonian reports.

“On a 37-22 party line vote, the Democratic majority in the Oregon House sent Senate Bill 870 to the desk of Democratic Gov. Kate Brown, who has indicated her support.”

FiveThirtyEight: “The effort to bypass the Electoral College and choose the president via the national popular vote has historically seemed like a long shot. But after an impressive string of legislative victories this year, maybe it should be taken more seriously.”

“But the compact has still only enlisted states where Democrats have had free rein to pass legislation… If the compact passes in Maine, Nevada and Oregon, every single state where the legislature and governorship are currently controlled by Democrats will have joined. And assuming that most Republican lawmakers continue to oppose the National Popular Vote movement, Democrats will have to sweep state elections in some tricky states in upcoming cycles for the compact to reach 270.”

Jonathan Bernstein: “In 2016, an unusual number of ‘faithless’ electors did not vote for the candidate they were supposed to. Five Democrats failed to support Hillary Clinton and two Republicans didn’t vote for Donald Trump. Three more Democrats attempted to defect but were blocked by state laws.”

“Although the 2016 election was abnormal in several respects, individual electors have defected six different times over the past 40 years. Most of them were likely engaging in symbolic protests, and would’ve acted differently had the contest been close. But it’s certainly possible that faithless electors could change a future election result, either deliberately or accidentally if enough of them in a close contest all think that they’re casting harmless protest votes.”

“There’s no justification for any of it. Whether one supports the Electoral College or not, personal choices by the electors simply aren’t part of the system – and never have been, despite the Framers’ intentions, basically since the Constitution was adopted.”

“Nevada could soon join 14 other states and Washington, D.C. to award its electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote during a presidential election,” KTVN reports.

“Nevada has six electoral votes, which go to the candidate who gets the most votes in our state. If the bill gets Governor Sisolak’s signature, the votes would go to the candidate who got the most votes, nationally.”

Related: 5 reasons to abolish the Electoral College

“An explosive, 150-page WhatsApp chat leaked to Miami New Times appears to show members of Miami-Dade County Commission District 5 candidate Alex Diaz de la Portilla’s 2018 campaign team discussing destroying or stealing absentee ballots from voters who selected one of Diaz de la Portilla’s opponents, Zoraida Barreiro.l

“Maine’s lawmakers passed a bill that would give the state’s electoral votes to the presidential candidate who won the national popular vote, taking a step toward becoming the 15th state to enact such a law,” CNN reports.

“The Maine Senate voted 19-16 Tuesday to join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, which would give all committed states’ electoral votes to the winning popular vote candidate should the group accrue the 270 votes necessary for a majority.”

“Maine is currently one of two states, along with Nebraska, that splits its electoral college votes instead of adhering to the winner-takes-all policy most states follow. Should the Maine House pass and Gov. Janet Mills sign the bill, Maine would contribute another four votes towards the 270.”

A new Gallup survey found that 55% of Americans favor eliminating the Electoral College and going with the popular vote, while just 43% opposed the idea.

“Arguments against the Electoral College have been around for decades, but became louder in 2000 when Al Gore lost to George W. Bush despite winning the national popular vote by more than 500,000 ballots. The arguments again ramped up when Donald Trump was elected in 2016, but lost the national vote to Hillary Clinton by nearly 3 million ballots.”

Joe Davidson: “Among the worst practices are those that rob Americans of the franchise because of errors, overly aggressive attempts to clean voting lists and voting roll manipulation designed to influence elections and political power.”

“Between 2014 and 2016, states removed almost 16 million voters from the rolls. That’s almost 4 million more than between 2006 and 2008. And it should be obvious that that is a rate that outstrips the growth rate of total registered voters and the growth rate of total population.”