Nebraska Rejects Change to Its Electoral College Rules

(Dreamstime)

Although there was support from three heavyweight Republicans in former President Donald Trump, Gov. Jim Pillen and Sen. Pete Ricketts, the Nebraska state legislature overwhelmingly declined to support a revised “winner-take-all” system in their electoral college rules Wednesday evening.

Nebraska and Maine are the only two states who assign their electoral votes by Congressional district. In 2020, Joe Biden was awarded one electoral vote due to winning the Nebraska district that includes Omaha.

State Sen. Julie Slama attempted to move the bill across the finish line via an amendment prior to the end of legislative session on April 18. Only eight of the required 23 legislators voted for the amendment.

In response to the failed legislation, Slama posted on X, “This pretty well sums it up- the “filibuster-proof” majority doesn’t have the intestinal fortitude to make Nebraska a Winner-Take-All state in an election year. Wild.”

Slama’s tactics were slammed by Democrats on the floor, with Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh saying, “Democracy is on the line.” according to the Lincoln Journal Star reporter Andrew Wegley. “I want to throw up. And I want to go to bed. But I can’t, because I don’t trust you,” she continued, referring to her Republican colleagues.

Republican State Sen. Loren Lippincott, who sponsored the original bill in January, told Nebraska Examiner reporter Aaron Sanderford on Wednesday that he would “make one more attempt tomorrow [Thursday] to attach the bill’s language to LB 541.”

While Nebraska rejected a change in their voting system on Wednesday, Maine’s state legislature approved a bill by 73-72 margin that would link its four electoral votes for president to the national popular vote. The Democrat governor of Maine, Janet Mills, has not indicated if she will sign the legislation which has already been adopted by 16 states and Washington, D.C.