Lawmakers in Nebraska rejected an attempt to change the way the state awards electoral votes to a “winner-take-all” system on Wednesday night, but the sponsor of the effort said he intends to try again before the legislative session ends.
Nebraska allocates its electoral votes based on a popular vote in each congressional district with two at-large electors who mirror the popular vote of the entire state, being the only state alongside Maine to do so. Gov. Jim Pillen (R-NE) announced his support to change the system on Tuesday, but the state Senate voted down the proposal 36-9 on Wednesday night.
Republican state Sen. Julie Slama brought the proposal to change the system via an amendment to another bill, saying she wanted to get each senator on the record on the matter.
“Given the recent interest on this issue, it’s incumbent that the NE Legislature finally take a full vote. Whether it passes or fails, we’ll get everyone on the record,” Slama said in a post on X before the vote.
Republican state Sen. Loren Lippincott, who sponsored the original bill to change the system, told the Nebraska Examiner on Wednesday that he would try to get another vote on the proposal via an amendment to LB 541 on Thursday.
The state’s legislative session ends on April 18, meaning the timetable to change the procedure before the 2024 election would have to happen quickly.
For much of the time Nebraska has had its current system in place, it has usually allocated all of its electoral votes to Republicans, but it has split its electoral votes twice. The two times came when the 2nd Congressional District, which has traditionally been a swing district, voted for Democratic candidates in 2008 and 2020.
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If the state changed to a winner-take-all system, it would likely cost President Joe Biden and give former President Donald Trump an electoral vote in the 2024 election, which is expected to be a tight contest.
The CookPoliticalReport rated Nebraska and the state’s 1st and 3rd Congressional Districts as “safe Republican” for the presidential race, while the state’s 2nd Congressional District, worth one electoral vote, is rated as “likely Democrat.”