At the urging of former President Donald Trump, Republican lawmakers in Nebraska are pushing a last-ditch effort to change the way the state allocates electoral college votes and adopt a “winner takes all” system that could impede President Joe Biden’s chances of winning re-election.
Nebraska’s current system allocates two of the state’s five electoral votes to the presidential candidate who wins the majority of votes statewide. The three other electoral votes are awarded to the winner of each of the state’s three congressional districts.
Under the system, Democratic candidates have a chance of winning an electoral vote in the deep-red state from the more liberal-leaning district surrounding its largest city, Omaha. Biden won the district in 2020 and former President Barack Obama picked it up in 2008.
With Trump and Biden in a dead heat in general election polls, the 2024 race could come down to just a few electoral votes in key states. Trump is hoping to swing Nebraska’s system in his favor.
Republicans have been trying to alter the system since it was approved by the state legislature in 1991, but the bills have either been vetoed by a Democratic governor or died in committee.
