This commentary is by Matthew Cecere of Waterbury. He is a social studies teacher at a local public high school.

Moves to change the presidential vote are underway, which should give us some optimism.

With Vermont’s three electoral votes for president all but counted, we are largely left on the sidelines as swing states once again decide the election. In this situation, it’s easy to lament how our votes seem to have less value than the votes in these swing states.

Current Electoral College politics leaves us in a continually anxious situation where there is always a risk of a gap between the candidate who wins the national popular vote and the candidate who wins the required 270 electoral votes. Reforming or outright abolishing the Electoral College would require a constitutional amendment, which seems extremely unlikely in today’s partisan political climate.

The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact seeks to change that. This interstate agreement awards electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote. It has already been adopted in several states (including Vermont). However, because the only two modern candidates to win the popular vote but lose the electoral vote were Democrats, this deal was only adopted by often more liberal state legislatures.

This has the potential to change. Already in several swing states such as Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina and Virginia, the agreement is being adopted by state legislatures. If it were to pass in these states and a few others, states signing the compact would commit to awarding their electoral votes to the winner of the popular vote. This will happen regardless of state results and without a constitutional amendment.

Political forecasters and constitutionalists more informed than I would probably caution anyone who believes this deal will pass, let alone potential Supreme Court challenges. However, just the fact that we can watch how this deal went from a fantasy to a legitimate possibility should give many voters hope for change with our presidential election.

Voters in states like Vermont may have reason to hope that their vote may in the very near future have a national impact on a scale never before seen in our republic.