- A high Maine Democrat floated adjustments within the state’s electoral legal guidelines in response to Nebraska.
- Nebraska Republicans earlier in April sought to alter how the state allocates its electoral votes.
- The transfer was backed by Trump in a state the place Biden was capable of decide up one electoral vote in 2020.
A high-ranking Maine Democratic lawmaker on Friday warned that the state could be “compelled” to alter its Electoral School delegate allocation to a “winner-take-all” system ought to Nebraska tweak its guidelines to profit former President Donald Trump.
Maine Home Majority Chief Maureen Terry in an announcement stated that voters in her state and in Nebraska’s swing 2nd Congressional District “worth their independence, however additionally they worth equity and taking part in by the foundations.”
“If Nebraska’s Republican Governor and Republican-controlled Legislature had been to alter their electoral system this late within the cycle as a way to unfairly award Donald Trump an extra electoral vote, I believe the Maine Legislature could be compelled to behave as a way to restore equity to our nation’s electoral system,” she continued.
The remarks come weeks after Trump touted Nebraska GOP Gov. Jim Pillen’s assist of a invoice that will change the state’s system of allocating electoral votes from one decided by particular person congressional districts to at least one that will award the state’s 5 electoral votes to the statewide victor.
“I’m steadfast in my dedication to get winner-take-all over the end line, thereby honoring our constitutional founding, unifying our state and ending the three-decade-old mistake of allocating Nebraska’s electoral votes in a different way than all however one different state,” the governor stated earlier this month.
Nebraska Democrats vehemently fought again in opposition to this electoral change earlier than the legislative session ended earlier this month and the measure did not advance. Pillen floated a possible particular session to finish “different unfinished enterprise,” which would come with the swap to a winner-take-all system. Nevertheless, thus far, Republicans lack the 33 votes wanted to make the change, and the governor beforehand indicated that he would not name a session except he had the requisite assist to get it by way of the legislature.
Whereas Nebraska overwhelmingly backed Trump within the general statewide vote in each 2016 and 2020 — a part of a longstanding sample for Republican presidential nominees — President Joe Biden was the victor within the Omaha-based 2nd Congressional District in 2020 and thus secured its one electoral vote.
The one different state in nation that allocates its electoral votes by congressional district is Maine, the place the political dynamic is flipped: Biden gained the general statewide vote by a large margin, however Trump captured one electoral vote by carrying the state’s 2nd Congressional District.
Any change in election regulation in both state would instantly increase the stakes in what is anticipated to be an in depth November normal election between Biden and Trump.
In a state of affairs the place Biden wins Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin however loses Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, and North Carolina — granted that he additionally retains each core Democratic state in his column — he’d win the Electoral School by a naked minimal 270 to 268.
If Nebraska went by way of with its change, Trump would seemingly win the state’s whole share of electoral votes, given its robust GOP orientation. Within the aforementioned state of affairs, the Electoral School could be tied 269 to 269, which might transfer the number of the president to the US Home of Representatives. But when Maine additionally switched to a winner-take-all system earlier than the 2024 election, Biden could be closely favored to win all of that state’s electoral votes and would thus win the Electoral School (270 to 268).
Maine Democrats — who management the state legislature — had usually not spoken of tweaking their electoral allocation system forward of 2024.
However issues are a lot totally different now.
“It’s my hope and the hope of my colleagues in Maine that the Nebraska Republican Celebration decides to not make this determined and ill-fated try to sway the 2024 election,” Terry stated.
