Mass Electoral College Battle: Back to the House

The Massachusetts State Senate passed the National Popular Vote plan late at night last night. The vote was 28-10. A top Senate source tells me that the bill will next have to return to the House for a vote on enactment, and then go back to the Senate for another vote for enactment before it goes to the desk of Governor Deval Patrick.

The State House News Service reports on an interesting detail:

Senators turned back through a 17 to 21 vote a Republican amendment to add a non-binding ballot question on the issue to the November ballot. Democrats said that it would be too late to add it to the ballot.

This was a close vote. I suppose there's some irony in the the fact that the advocates of the National Popular Vote plan, who wrap themselves in the mantle of democratic virtue, fought so hard to kill a bill that would actually, you know, allow people to vote on changing the electoral structure of Massachusetts.

It looks like the House and/or the Senate could vote on the amendment again for the enactment votes. And pushing for the referendum could be a viable goal: the Senate's vote on the amendment (17-21) was a lot closer than the final vote on engrossing the bill (28-10). The House still has a chance to give the people a voice in this matter (to use the rhetoric of the NPV), and the Senate could still move for a referendum. If the NPVers are so confident that the public will support their plan, why the anxiety about a referendum?