The Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee voted 7-1 to advance a bill to general file Feb. 4 that would reinstate a winner-take-all system for allocating Nebraska\u2019s presidential electoral votes.<\/p>\n
Currently, the winner of Nebraska\u2019s statewide popular vote receives two Electoral College votes. The state\u2019s three congressional districts also award one electoral vote each based on the popular vote winner in each district. Maine is the only other state to use this system.<\/p>\n
LB10, introduced by Omaha Sen. Beau McCoy, would reinstate a winner-take-all system and award all five electoral votes to the winner of the state\u2019s popular vote.<\/p>\n
McCoy said the district plan has led presidential campaigns\u2014when they focus attention on Nebraska at all\u2014to limit their focus to the 2nd Congressional District, which was won by President Barack Obama in 2008.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019re a small state anyway [and] we further dilute our effectiveness as a state in national elections when we split our portion of electoral votes,\u201d McCoy said.<\/p>\n
Nebraska Secretary of State John Gale agreed. Testifying in support of the bill, he said Nebraska is at a disadvantage when 48 other states use the winner-take-all system. He said small states like Nebraska with a dominant statewide political party can have more influence at the regional and national level if they do not dilute their Electoral College votes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need all of those electoral votes to have an impact on the outcome of presidential elections,\u201d Gale said.<\/p>\n
Former state senator DiAnna Schimek, who sponsored the bill that enacted Nebraska\u2019s current electoral system, testified in opposition to LB10. She said the goal of the district system is to encourage political participation and to make voters who are in the political minority feel that their vote counts.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen it was first introduced, it wasn\u2019t immediately partisan nor was it immediately controversial,\u201d Schimek said. \u201cThe most important reason for enacting the [district system] \u2026 is that it encourages grassroots activity.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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