Nebraska senators eye bill to avoid electoral vote-splitting

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Republican lawmakers in Nebraska, one of two states that proportionally divide their electoral votes, are seeking to return to a winner-take-all approach after Democrat Barack Obama capitalized on the system during the 2008 campaign.

Sen. John Murante of Gretna argued to a legislative committee Thursday that his proposal would allow the state to speak with one voice in presidential elections.

The bill is backed by the Nebraska Republican Party and GOP elected leaders. Democratic opponents say it would reduce the incentive for Omaha-area voters to participate in elections because conservatives hold a lopsided majority in the state.

"Now is the time once and for all to dispense with this issue and return Nebraska to a winner-take-all format," said Murante, a Republican.

Nebraska and Maine are the only states where it's possible to divide electoral votes between opposing presidential candidates in a general election. The states award one electoral vote to the winner of each congressional district and the other two to the statewide winner. California allocates its electoral votes by district in Republican primaries.

Republican senators have fought for years to reinstate a winner-take-all system, with little success. But the bill gained unusual traction last year, advancing through two of three required rounds of voting before a filibuster blocked it.

Murante noted that no other state has followed Nebraska since it shifted away from a winner-take-all approach in 1991. If other states had done so, he said, state legislatures throughout the country would have an even stronger incentive to adjust their congressional districts and sway the presidential vote.

"It would be gerrymandering on steroids," he said.

Nebraska rarely sees presidential hopefuls, but in August, Democrat Hillary Clinton campaigned in Omaha and one of her national staffers referred to the 2nd District as a "battleground." Clinton lost the district and the entire state to Republican Donald Trump. In the 2008 race, Obama, Republican nominee John McCain and his running mate, Sarah Palin, all visited Omaha.

Nebraska is one of the nation's safest locks for Republican presidential nominees, who haven't lost the statewide popular vote since Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson carried it in 1964.

Kenny Zoller, the Nebraska Republican Party's executive director, said presidential candidates "should have to make their case to voters across the entire state, not just one congressional district."

But former state Sen. DiAnna Schimek, a Democrat who helped create the current system, said Nebraska's approach helps reflect the state's diverse opinions.

"I thought it would be a good safety valve for when there was apparently some differences between districts," she said.

Committee members took no action on the bill on Thursday.