Loren Lippincott
Gov. Jim Pillen has asked me to reintroduce my “Winner Take All” bill in this year’s legislative session. The new bill, LB 003, seeks to return Nebraska to the way 48 other states count their electoral votes for president and the way Nebraska did it before 1992.
The electoral college, which the founders designed as the mechanism for electing the president, has a total of 538 votes. Thus in order to be elected president a candidate must get 50 percent plus one of that total, or 270. Each state has one electoral vote for each of its U.S. Senators and one vote for each representative. That leaves Nebraska with five votes. Originally all states awarded all their electoral votes to the presidential candidate receiving the majority of the popular vote of that state. This makes sense as the president serves the entire state and is thus elected by the entire state, just like our other state constitutional officers like governor and attorney general.
In 1972 Maine changed the way it awarded its congressional electoral votes by dividing up the popular vote by congressional districts. This so-called District Plan was done to give voice to a third-party candidate. In 1992 Nebraska joined this idea by a 25 vote-simple majority, thinking the idea would sweep the nation. It did not. None of the other states have joined and for good reason. Our Legislature reversed course in 1995, passing a bill to return to winner take all, but the governor at the time vetoed the bill and the legislature failed to override the veto. This happened again in 1997 and our legislature has attempted to return to winner take all 11 times. Each time a supermajority vote was required to override a sure filibuster.
I have read through all the testimonials and debate from those 11 attempts and the arguments in favor of keeping the District Plan are pretty consistent. One reason often cited is that it gives the voter a “voice” in his/her vote (In other words, a feeling). But what if the election doesn’t go your way? And how does one measure a feeling? As former Nebraska Democrat Party Chair Vince Powers said, “Votes count as long as your vote is cast.”
I wonder if those who favor the District Plan realize that if the entire nation counted its votes that way, in 2012 Mitt Romney would have been elected president with 277 votes to Barack Obama’s 260. In the presidential elections of 2008, 2020 and 2024 votes were split in both Maine and Nebraska because of the District Plan. Also, since that system helps third-party candidates to capture their share of electoral votes, if the whole nation operated that way it increases the likelihood that no one candidate would receive the needed 270 electoral votes. In that case the House of Representatives would decide who becomes president.
Many say the District Plan increases grassroots participation and voter turnout. It has not. The candidates and their policies drive support and turnout.
Some argued the District Plan would encourage presidential candidates to visit our state, but candidate visits to Nebraska have not increased since 1992. Since we have only five electoral votes, candidates still only visit the large population center of Omaha/Council Bluffs. Thus the District Plan only encourages candidates to campaign in the large population centers, while ignoring the people and issues important to rural areas.
The arguments for winner take all are compelling and in line with why the Electoral College exists in the first place. One of the most powerful is that it limits the unfair influence of large population centers. Consider, for instance, that the combined populations of just six cities the size of Chicago or Los Angeles equals the population of 14 entire states of which Nebraska is one. Meanwhile, the population of New York City alone (8.2 million) is more than the population of 39 individual states.
The Electoral College prevents a tyranny of the majority (a “mobocracy”). The same principle applies to winner take all. It spreads out representation and prevents pockets of power in large population centers. The current system is divisive, whereas winner take all puts us all on the same team!
Loren Lippincott represents Legislative District 34 in the Nebraska State Senate. Read his column in the Nance County Journal.