The national popular vote movement has failed at least four times to successfully make it through both houses of the Oregon Legislature. Now, apparently, it’s about to fail again.

This time, and in 2017, the problem is that some national popular vote supporters don’t like the idea that the people of Oregon should have the final say on such a basic change to the way U.S. presidents are elected.

Currently, most states allocate all Electoral College votes to the presidential candidate receiving the most votes in that state. National popular vote supporters would change that, so that each state’s electoral college votes would be cast for the candidate who won the national popular vote.

Groups supporting the national popular vote campaign oppose Senate Bill 1512, which would be referred to the people for, you guessed it, a popular vote. It’s not that the idea’s supporters don’t want to make the change; they just don’t think the people of Oregon should be given a say in the matter.

Thus, and perhaps most surprisingly, Common Cause, which supports “open, honest and accountable” government, sent its Oregon executive director, Kate Titus, to Salem to testify against HB 1512 at a hearing this session. Titus told the Senate Committee on Rules that opponents of the measure should be required to gather signatures to refer it to the people, rather than the Legislature referring it directly to voters.

Those who oppose legislative referral argue that it makes fighting for the measure’s passage too expensive, that the fight would be polarizing and that it would make the subject a political football.

That may be true. But one also has to wonder if part of their opposition stems from less pure impulses. Could supporters be worried that a popular vote measure might be defeated by Oregon voters? Perhaps. Either way, if 1512 fails to gain traction in the last few days of the 2018 legislative session, they’ll have only themselves to blame.