Maryland was the first state in the country to agree to bypass the Electoral College as we know it today.

Had enough other states also agreed to the compact Maryland joined in 2007, last week's presidential election would have been won by Democrat Hillary Clinton.

The deal Maryland agreed to nine years ago, known as the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, would sidestep the traditional process and award a majority of the Electoral College votes to the winner of the popular vote.

But for the compact to kick in, states with a combined 270 votes need to agree to it. So far, only 10 states and the District of Columbia — which have a combined 165 votes — have agreed to the deal. They include such electoral powerhouses as California, Illinois and New York.

This month's presidential election reopened a long-running debate about the wisdom of using the Electoral College to determine the nation's commander in chief.

While Clinton leads the popular vote for president, Republican Donald J. Trump handily won the Electoral College and, therefore, the presidency.

Established in Article Two of the U.S. Constitution, the Electoral College was levels the playing field between smaller states and more populous, vote-rich states.

But the system has long been criticized, once by President-elect Trump, who in 2012 called it a “disaster.” Now he tweets, “The Electoral College is actually genius in that it brings all states, including the smaller ones, into play. Campaigning is much different!”

Democrats dissatisfied with this election's results tend to disagree.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said last week that the Electoral College makes whole states irrelevant. “Maryland is totally irrelevant. ... Republican candidates are not going to go there,” Sanders told an audience at the Johns Hopkins University on Thursday evening. “Democratic candidates are not going to go there. What does that mean for the people of Maryland?”

Baltimore Sun reporter Tim Prudente contributed to this article.