A renewed conservative effort is underway to change Nebraska's unique presidential election system from awarding electoral votes by congressional district to a winner-take-all model, sparking opposition from advocates who say the current system keeps Nebraska relevant in national campaigns.
The petition drive comes after multiple failed attempts in the state legislature to make the change, including pushes for special sessions that were shot down in the unicameral. Conservative figures, including Charlie Kirk, who held a rally in Omaha in April 2024 to garner support around the topic, have continued pressing for the electoral system change.
"I know there'll be a lot of folks very resistant and will absolutely walk away from any request to put a signature on," said Jason Brown of Blue Dot Nebraska. "We'll see how it turns out, but I think there'll for sure be a whole lot of blue dot Nebraska people ready to say no, we're not going back, don't take voting rights away."
The group "Advocates for All Nebraskans" is driving the current petition effort. Republican strategist Stephen Bader, who previously hoped other states like Illinois, New York and California could follow Nebraska's district-based model to give diversity of voice, now supports switching to winner-take-all in Nebraska.
"You know, President Trump wins the state by 100s of thousands of votes. It's not even close, and yet 1/5 of the electoral votes don't get rewarded to that kind of a margin," Bader said. "And you know talked about the urban-rural divide and the animosity that the 3rd district, you know, Western Nebraska already feels about Omaha, and then furthermore they literally give a vote to the other side."
Bader believes the switch could help ease political tensions between Omaha and rural Nebraska.
"Nebraska is speaking in one voice as opposed to pockets of the state. That kind of contribute to the already kinda butting of heads between urban and rural," Bader said. "We're we're all Nebraskan and so if we're if we're going to speak together and refer to ourselves as fellow Nebraskans, that's how our politics should be."
Brown argues the current system actually brings Nebraska closer to true democratic representation and helps prevent gerrymandering.
"It's the closest really we can get in the way our electoral college system works, where it's not as close as being one person one vote, but it's so much closer," Brown said. "So if there really is, maybe a positioning of feeling like that's something we should cherish. That's what we do now, that's what we do differently, and that's what we do now. So why would we want to take that away, and again, that's for red voters, blue voters, and in between voters."
Brown believes the district system also helps combat gerrymandering practices.
"I think almost without exception the average American voter when we all sometimes talk about the real Americans, you know, that's in every part of this country, so maybe outside of the political elites and the establishment, both sides absolutely have no tolerance for the silliness of gerrymandering and kind of gaming the system to your favor, to their favor or this person's favor or this political party's favor," Brown said.
Brown says Blue Dot Nebraska has not planned any events to fight the petition yet, but says they remain galvanized and will likely organize opposition efforts.
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