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Is your state so red that no Democrat has a chance in any congressional district? If so, winner-take all.
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Is your state reliably red, but with a population center that would vote Democratic? If so, Austinize the population center and then divvy by congressional districts.
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Is your state electorate divided or marginally Democratic, but you have the districts gerrymandered to where you are running shit? If so, divvy by congressional districts and for god’s sake, keep those districts rigged.
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Is your state electorate Democratic and run by Democrats? If so, get a ton of Citizens United money from out of state to Astroturf a “divvy by districts” ballot initiative campaign and front it with some “concerned citizens”.
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It must be frustrating to know that every economic, foreign and domestic policy you’ve ever had was a farse that never worked, and the people are finally figuring it out. And that the only reason your party has remained viable in recent years was on the weakening back of racial sentiment and the want for women to simply get back into the kitchen and mind their tongues.
The Republican Party 2016.
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Oh Nebraska…The Cornhugger’s State. We’re Super Racist: But Not In Your Face About It!
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They actually have road signs? Are those even visible from 30,000 feet up?
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So all states should be named Oklahoma to be consistent, and no unicameral legislatures - all bicameral to be consistent,
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I bet Chris Kobach of Kansas is mixed up in this. He loves to mess with non-GOPer voters no matter what state they are in.
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The overall national impact of taking one electoral vote out of play for Democrats would only make a notable difference in a very tight election.
Actually, it would never make a national impact. CD-2 is rated as a R+9. The only way a democrat wins it is if they are winning in an electoral landslide. If the race is close enough where one electoral vote is going to make a difference, that one electoral vote isn’t even close to in play.
As democrats we should be very concerned about any proportional electoral system, even in Nebraska. It gives the GOP the ability to gerrymander the presidency. In 2014 Democrats won 7 million more votes in aggregate for House seats than the GOP, and yet we are still how many seats down in the house? If electoral votes were distributed by congressional district, we would have president Romney today. We either need to be a popular vote country, or the current system. Nothing else is democratic.
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LOL…the Teatrolls’ well of perfidy is truly bottomless. This is, no doubt, spearheaded behind the scenes by the same groups or people who wanted PA and OH to become states that split their electoral votes.
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I can just imagine the discussion behind the scenes by the Republican Cult’s legislators after the 2008 presidential election: “Oh my gracious goodness! That nig…errrr…swarthy man got one of our electoral votes! And next time it could be, well, who knows, a woe-man… We must…must do something to make sure that such an unholy abomination never ever happens again.”
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Indeed! And they are undoubtedly the same bastards who’ve been endlessly trying for exactly that in California (Also, to add to the list, they have made attempts in Michigan, Virginia and Florida)
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/12/03/3007311/gop-plan-rig-electoral-college-republicans-rears-head-california-2/
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Gosh, there goes our chance for taking Nebraska in November.
So, basically they want the state-wide popular vote to determine the election but if you suggest eliminating the electoral college altogether so a country-wide popular vote determines who’s president they say, oh, NO, we can’t be fiddling with a “sacred” anti-democratic constitutional anachonism like that!!!
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A little NE, Chambers , Gov Ricketts background:
Ricketts is a very bad governor who is trying hard, likely breaking laws as he goes, to get the death penalty reinstated. In the mean time he was shut down by the Federal govt because the drugs he tried to import to kill the death roll inmates, are illegal. He wasted taxpayer dollars, a mortal sin among Republicans, as he tried.
Ricketts also shut down an effort lead by Republicans, with the support of Buffett millionaires from Omaha, to expand medicaid in NE.
Sen Chambers, who successfully got the law passed to ban capital punishment, represents the Omaha Black community. In addition to the law to change back to “winner take all”, there are 3 education bills waiting that would take education money from poorer districts and one to increase parks and recreation fees.
Chambers is 78, a master at understanding and maneuvering legislaive rules after decades as Congressman. By adding an amendment to 95 bills, he got himsrlf 36 hours of flour time and waiting for the appropriate time before the legislative session ends, he plans to filibuster to the end.
Chambers: “Tell me I won’t do it. I have stood here. I’ve watched you. I’ve listened to you. I’ve seen the arrogance when you did cruel things to people who have no voice on this floor, to people who can’t help themselves because the governor and attorney general told you. So now, call on your masters to save you,” Chambers said.
Chambers is also an atheist among many evangelicals.
It is glorious to watch. He is brilliant, educated with a perfect pleasant calm voice.
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We have one Democrat from the Omaha district, Brad Ashford. He has spent time as a Republican but essentially is a Republican switched to Democrat to run against the Republican, Lee Terry, who when asked if he’d take his government salary during the shutdown replied, ‘Dang straight. … I’ve got a nice house and a kid in college.’ ”
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The 2008 presidential campaigns did not pay the slightest attention to the people of Nebraska’s reliably Republican 1st and 3rd congressional districts because it was a foregone conclusion that McCain would win the most popular votes in both of those districts. The issues relevant to voters of the 2nd district (the Omaha area) mattered, while the (very different) issues relevant to the remaining (mostly rural) 2/3rds of the state were irrelevant.
In 2012, the whole state was ignored.
74% of Nebraska voters support a national popular vote for President
In Maine, the closely divided 2nd congressional district received campaign events in 2008 (whereas Maine’s 1st reliably Democratic district was ignored).
In 2012, the whole state was ignored.
77% of Maine voters support a national popular vote for President
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With state-by-state winner-take-all laws, the predictability of the winner of the state you live in determines how much, if at all, your vote matters.
Analysts concluded months ago that only the 2016 party winner of Florida (29 electoral votes), Ohio (18), Virginia (13), Colorado (9), Nevada (6), Iowa (6) and New Hampshire (4) is not a foregone conclusion. So, if the National Popular Vote bill is not in effect, less than a handful of states will continue to dominate and determine the presidential general election.
Since March, ASSUMING a Clinton vs. Trump campaign, some analysts believe there will be no swing states. States with 347 electoral votes are leaning, likely, or safe Democratic, and 191 Republican.
The only states that received any attention in the 2012 general election campaign for President were states within 3% of the national outcome.
The indefensible reality is that more than 99% of presidential campaign attention (ad spending and visits) was invested on voters in just the only ten competitive states in 2012.
Two-thirds (176 of 253) of the general-election campaign events, and a similar fraction of campaign expenditures, were in just four states (Ohio, Florida, Virginia, and Iowa).
38 states had no campaign events, and miniscule or no spending for TV ads.
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The U.S. Constitution specifically permits diversity of election laws among the states.
In the nation’s first presidential election in 1789 and second election in 1792, the states employed a wide variety of methods for choosing presidential electors, including
● appointment of the state’s presidential electors by the Governor and his Council,
● appointment by both houses of the state legislature,
● popular election using special single-member presidential-elector districts,
● popular election using counties as presidential-elector districts,
● popular election using congressional districts,
● popular election using multi-member regional districts,
● combinations of popular election and legislative choice,
● appointment of the state’s presidential electors by the Governor and his Council combined with the state legislature, and
● statewide popular election.
The current winner-take-all method of awarding electoral votes is not in the U.S. Constitution. It was not debated at the Constitutional Convention. It is not mentioned in the Federalist Papers. It was not the Founders’ choice. It was used by only three states in 1789, and all three of them repealed it by 1800. It is not entitled to any special deference based on history or the historical meaning of the words in the U.S. Constitution. The actions taken by the Founding Fathers make it clear that they never gave their imprimatur to the winner-take-all method. The winner-take-all method of awarding electoral votes became dominant only in the 1830s, when most of the Founders had been dead for decades, after the states adopted it, one-by-one, in order to maximize the power of the party in power in each state.
The constitutional wording does not encourage, discourage, require, or prohibit the use of any particular method for awarding a state’s electoral votes.
As a result of changes in state laws enacted since 1789, the people have the right to vote for presidential electors in 100% of the states, there are no property requirements for voting in any state, and the state-by-state winner-take-all method is used by 48 of the 50 states. States can, and have, changed their method of awarding electoral votes over the years.
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Anything that the lousy bunch of Grumpy Old Party cheaters think will win them an election is now fair game.
Remember Friends-The New Campaign slogan of the GOP:
IOKIYAR
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Chambers also made headlines in 2007 when he sued God (unsuccessfully).
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They’ll never lean democratic until they realize voting for republicans is voting against themselves.
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