New Jersey ? New Jersey on Sunday became the second state to enter a compact that would eliminate the Electoral College’s power to choose a president if enough states endorse the idea.

Gov. Jon S. Corzine signed legislation that approves delivering the state’s 15 electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote.

Maryland – with 10 electoral votes – had been the only state to pass the compact into law.

The compact would take effect only if enough states – those with a majority of votes in the Electoral College – agreed to it. A candidate needs 270 of 538 electoral votes to win.

The compact has also passed both houses of the Illinois Legislature, according to the National Popular Vote movement, and has been approved by one legislative house in Arkansas, Colorado and North Carolina. Governors in California and Hawaii, though, vetoed bills to join the compact.

The goal is to ensure that the national popular vote winner becomes president. Democrats who sponsored the bill have noted that their party’s 2000 presidential nominee, Al Gore, won the popular vote but lost in the Electoral College.