Whitman Selectmen have been asked by the north central Massachusetts town of Erving to join them in supporting a bill to change the way presidential electors are chosen effectively working around the Electoral College without amending the Constitution.

Selectmen in the small Franklin County community (population 1,549) recently contacted Selectmen Chairman Carl Kowalski about General Court bill H200 and he, in turn, asked state Rep. Geoffrey Diehl, R-Whitman, to outline the bill for the board.

“It retains the Electoral College, because that’s part of our Constitution, but it sort of bypasses it and allows for the popular vote to happen,” Diehl said.

H200 would provide for congressional district apportionment of presidential electors, rather than the winner-take-all system Massachusetts has been under prior to 2010. The bill was referred to the Joint Committee on Election Laws Tuesday and is slated for a hearing on April 11.

“We just had a Mass. Municipal Association meeting … and I had not heard one word about this initiative,” Kowalski said. “I thought it would be very timely to talk about it this evening.”

The bill amends Chapter 53 of Mass. General Laws to select a presidential elector from each congressional district based on the popular vote in the district and two at-large electors based on the statewide popular vote.

Diehl said the bill is part of a national effort to ultimately end the dominance of a few battle ground states in the presidential campaign at the expense of states where candidates feel confident of winning.

Right now, 49 percent of the 270 electoral votes needed for election are distributed by the national popular vote, if that total reaches 100 percent, Diehl said, the popular vote, not the Electoral College, selects the president.

“What the legislation, which is a refile (brought forth every session since 2001), would switch Massachusetts to a different system,” Diehl said. “We would assign our electoral votes based on the votes of a congressional district.”

The two senate district votes would be based on statewide returns.

“I don’t know if I necessarily have an opinion, because we’ve just finished assigning our overall popular vote to going to the national popular vote,” Diehl said. “I don’t even think my position on this is actually relevant, it’s probably something you as a board would decide if you are going to back the town of Erving in their efforts to build a coalition.”

Nine states including Massachusetts have enacted the national popular vote with an additional 31 legislative chambers in 21 other states passing it short of full implementation.

Closer to home, the board used a lottery to assign the four available toll-booth fundraiser permits for which there were five applicants. Kowalski advocated, for this first selection process under the new rules, that the applicant not selected would be guaranteed a permit next year. That fifth applicant was the Panthers.

“We’ll iron it out if we find we could have done something better,” Town Administrator Frank Lynam said.

The four groups winning permits were: Whitman Wildcats, Sons of the American Legion, Knights of Columbus and Whitman Baseball Softball Association.

In other business, citations and letters of congratulations to Town Clerk Pamela Martin, who retires Thursday after 19 years of service, were read at the meeting, including a proclamation from the Board of Selectmen designating Thursday Pamela Martin Day in Whitman. Official citations from the state Senate and a letter from state Sen. Thomas Kennedy, D-Brockton, as well as a certificate of appreciation and special Congressional recognition from U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., were also read. Diehl said a citation from the state House of Representatives is in the works.

“I think she is what being a town clerk is all about,” said Vice Chairman Dan Salvucci. “I commend her for her service to the town of Whitman in that position. She’s been a great friend and a great help.”

“She taught me a lesson once,” Kowalski said, relating a humorous story about his family’s opting against getting a license for a nervous pet poodle named Molly – after the board had approved the annual warrant for unlicensed dogs.

“I made a wise remark and abstained from the vote,” Kowalski said. “My wife couldn’t see why we needed to register this little dog who never left the yard – so we didn’t. One day we received a phone call from the police department issuing a warrant for the arrest of the outlaw dog, Molly.”

He said he appreciated Martin’s efforts in demonstrating the importance of the rule and the work she put into it.

“I would say Pamela was certainly good for a reality check when you needed one,” Lynam said.

Meeting notes:

• At the suggestion of Selectman Lisa Green, the Board has invited George Woodbury, director of energy services of Republic ITS to the Feb. 14 meeting to provide an overview of potential safety and energy cost benefits of converting town streetlights to LED lights. Representatives of Abington and Hanson will also be invited to the meeting.

• Selectmen voted to open the warrant for the annual Town Meeting, scheduled for May 7. The warrant will close on Feb. 24.

Selectmen signed the warrant for the March 6 presidential primary election.

• Wayne Carroll of Whitman Youth Football returned to the Board of Selectmen to announce completion of a storage building at Memorial Field approved last year and to thank the board and several other groups and individuals in town that supported the project.

• Terry Plante volunteered and was approved for membership on the Town Hall Space Needs Committee; and Police Chief Christine May-Stafford and Deputy Chief Scott Benton submitted resignations from the Building Projects Committee.

• Selectmen entered executive session to discuss collective bargaining or litigation, returning only to adjourn.