Proposal to change Nebraska’s electoral vote allocation fails

Nebraska is one of two states that awards its electoral votes to presidential candidates by Congressional District, with the overall state winner receiving an additional two votes.

In 2020, President Joe Biden received one electoral vote from Omaha’s 2nd Congressional District, while Donald Trump received the state’s other four votes.

Sen. Loren Lippincott proposed a bill that would make Nebraska a winner-take-all state, but it did not make it out of committee.

Sen. Julie Slama added Lippincott’s proposal as an amendment to a different bill – one that would keep companies from adversarial countries from bidding on certain state contracts.

The chair ruled the amendment was not germane, meaning it was not related to the subject of the underlying bill.

Slama moved to overrule that decision.

“Germaneness means what we want it to mean in the Nebraska Legislature," she said. "The courts have largely upheld how we choose to regulate ourselves. And if we have the votes, odds are the courts will rule that it is germane.”

The motion to overrule the chair failed on a 36-9 vote, effectively killing the amendment.