Amendment Stalls to Consolidate Nebraska’s Electoral College Votes for President

LINCOLN–(KFOR Apr. 4)–An attempt to turn Nebraska into a winner-take-all state for presidential elections failed Wednesday night in the Nebraska Legislature, when an amendment from Dunbar Senator Julie Slama attached to another bill, LB 1300, didn’t get enough senators on board to overrule the chair’s ruling the amendment is germane to the bill.

The amendment would have helped in awarding all of Nebraska’s five Electoral College votes to one single candidate. The amendment was attached to the bill to try and giving it a shot to get it advanced in the final days of the 60-day session. Central City Senator Loren Lippincott sponsored the initial winner-take-all bill, LB 764, but with time running out, the bill wasn’t given priority status, mostly because it wasn’t likely to overcome a filibuster.

Nebraska and Maine are the only states that awards two electoral votes designated for each state’s two Senate seats, but split the remaining votes, allowing each Congressional District’s popular vote to claim one electoral vote according to the popular vote result in that district.

Supporters of the change will try to get the amendment through again.