A TOP MAINE DEMOCRAT acknowledged on Thursday that there’s likely not enough time to change the state’s Electoral College rules before the election to counterbalance Nebraska Republicans trying to alter their own state’s rules to benefit Donald Trump.
Democratic House Majority Leader Maureen Terry told The Bulwark in a brief phone conversation that the party had “very possibly” missed a window to alter the state’s Electoral College allocation to a winner-take-all format.
That could leave the party, and Vice President Kamala Harris, with a much narrower path to the presidency.
Maine is one of two states that currently awards Electoral College votes to presidential candidates based on both who prevails statewide and how candidates fare in individual districts. Nebraska is the other.
But Nebraska Republicans have begun ramping up previously dormant efforts to switch to a strict winner-takes-all format, with surrogates from Donald Trump’s campaign pressuring holdout Republicans to vote for the measure.
Should they succeed, it would likely deprive Harris of a critical Electoral College vote from the Omaha district, which would close off one of her easiest maps to victory. With one electoral vote from Nebraska in her column, picking up just Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin while losing the rest of the swing states would be enough to get Harris to 270 electoral votes. Without that Omaha vote, that map would put the election in a 269-269 deadlock, leaving it to the House of Representatives to adjudicate. Since Republicans control more state delegations, that scenario would likely result in a Trump win.
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>A TOP MAINE DEMOCRAT acknowledged on Thursday that there’s likely not enough time to change the state’s Electoral College rules before the election to counterbalance Nebraska Republicans trying to alter their own state’s rules to benefit Donald Trump.
>Democratic House Majority Leader Maureen Terry told The Bulwark in a brief phone conversation that the party had “very possibly” missed a window to alter the state’s Electoral College allocation to a winner-take-all format.
>That could leave the party, and Vice President Kamala Harris, with a much narrower path to the presidency.
>Maine is one of two states that currently awards Electoral College votes to presidential candidates based on both who prevails statewide and how candidates fare in individual districts. Nebraska is the other.
>But Nebraska Republicans have begun ramping up previously dormant efforts to switch to a strict winner-takes-all format, with surrogates from Donald Trump’s campaign pressuring holdout Republicans to vote for the measure.
>Should they succeed, it would likely deprive Harris of a critical Electoral College vote from the Omaha district, which would close off one of her easiest maps to victory. With one electoral vote from Nebraska in her column, picking up just Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin while losing the rest of the swing states would be enough to get Harris to 270 electoral votes. Without that Omaha vote, that map would put the election in a 269-269 deadlock, leaving it to the House of Representatives to adjudicate. Since Republicans control more state delegations, that scenario would likely result in a Trump win.
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[Archive](https://archive.today/mgz1w)
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