Dear Editor:

While many of us were casting our ballots in the Presidential Primary on March 5, our state representative, Holly Stover, was voting to invalidate our votes in November. She voted to have Maine join the National Popular Vote (NPV) Compact. This dangerous proposal has the potential to completely disenfranchise all Maine voters and certainly will remove any influence Maine could possibly have on the presidential election.

Imagine this scenario: a presidential candidate is proposing to ban lobstering, build windmills all over our coast and islands, prohibit both private and commercial vessels over 35 feet from speeds greater than 10 knots, and other policies that would be devastating to Maine’s economy. In November the voters of Maine reject this person in a 70-30 vote, but nationwide that candidate receives 50.00001% of the vote by winning in the big cities in California, Oregon, Washington, Illinois, and New York. Rep Stover’s vote for the NPV means that she would throw away all our votes and instead have our four Electoral College votes given to the candidate that we overwhelmingly rejected. She apparently believes that the voters of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, and New York City are more important than we are here in her own district. This is completely unacceptable.

Bill Hunt

Southport