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To: KittenClaws

Look up the Maine/Nebraska rule, where each congressional district gets one electoral vote, and the state gets two electoral votes on an at-large basis.


1,374 posted on 01/24/2024 9:08:32 PM PST by Publius
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To: Publius

Re: Maine/ Nebraska

Although this may sound “fair” at the outset, especially if your candidate benefits, second thoughts lead me to believe it is just another manipulation of the EC to turn it into a “popular vote”. If implemented nationwide, large population centers (read liberal cities) would own every election.

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https://www.270towin.com/content/split-electoral-votes-maine-and-nebraska/

n all but two states, electoral votes are winner-take-all.1 The candidate winning the popular vote normally receives all of that state’s votes. Maine and Nebraska have taken a different approach. Using the congressional district method, these states allocate two electoral votes to the state popular vote winner, and then one electoral vote to the popular vote winner in each congressional district (2 in Maine, 3 in Nebraska). This creates multiple popular vote contests in these states, which could lead to a split electoral vote.

Maine enacted this rule in advance of the 1972 presidential election, while Nebraska enacted it starting with the 1992 election. The first split happened in the 2008 election. That year, Barack Obama won Nebraska’s 2nd District (Omaha and its suburbs), gaining a Democratic electoral vote in that state for the first time since 1964.

Maine had its first split in 2016, when Donald Trump won Maine’s 2nd District, which covers most of the state away from Portland, Augusta and nearby coastal areas. Statewide, Maine last voted Republican in 1988.

In 2020, District 2 in each state was won by the candidate of the statewide popular vote loser. While the first time this has happened, the two votes also effectively cancelled each other out.


1,422 posted on 01/25/2024 4:35:51 AM PST by KittenClaws (God is true to His Word.)
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