[july4thfreedomfoundation]

Nebraska has three congressional districts.

Under a 1991 Nebraska law, whichever presidential candidate wins the individual congressional districts gets one electoral vote from each district.

Whichever candidate wins the statewide popular vote in Nebraska gets the other two electoral votes....the two electoral votes they get from their senators.

In 2008, McCain won two of Nebraska’s congressional districts as well as the statewide vote. He received four electoral votes from Nebraska. Obama won one congressional district in Omaha, and he, Obama, received one electoral vote from Nebraska.

Maine has two congressional districts. Same deal as Nebraska....the statewide winner of the popular vote receives the two electoral votes they get from their senators. Obama received a majority of the vote in both of Maine’s congressional districts, so he, Obama, received all four of Maine’s electoral college votes.

Maine and Nebraska are the only two states that divy up their electoral votes by congressional district.

[hinckley buzzard]

Personally I think the Maine-Nebraska plan makes a lot of sense. I suppose the all-or-nothing electoral college vote has been intended to maximize a state's clout, but the representative nature of the district based plan has a certain appeal. Every district would be equally important, unlike the current situation with tiny or homogeneous states being ignored or taken for granted.

The plan based on mimicking the national popular vote frankly sucks.