Summary of Nebraska may change its electoral system at the last second to help Trump win | Stephen Marche
Summary of Nebraska may change its electoral system at the last second to help Trump win | Stephen Marche
American democracy is facing significant threats from multiple angles, with the electoral college system potentially playing a critical role in upcoming elections. The split electoral vote in Omaha, Nebraska could become a crucial factor in determining the presidential victor. Manipulating this system could lead to contested outcomes and even trigger a contingent election, favoring Republicans. This intricate situation highlights the complexities and vulnerabilities of the US democratic process, emphasizing the urgent need for structural reforms to ensure fair and transparent elections.
quoting nevent1q…ym4uNebraska may change its electoral system at the last second to help Trump win | Stephen Marche
The state’s Republican governor has proposed a legal change that could alter the course of the national presidential electionAmerican democracy is in a fragile place. If you haven’t figured that out by this point, you haven’t been paying attention. The dangers are coming from all sides. Donald Trump has just survived his second apparent assassination attempt. The governor of Ohio has had to call in the state police to monitor a spate of bomb threats to local schools after falsehoods about Haitian immigrants eating cats and dogs in the area began circulating. That’s aside from all the usual mass shootings, Proud Boy marches and the rest of it. But inside this fomenting turmoil, the most dangerous spot in the whole country, the rock on which the American state may well founder, is the quiet congressional district of Omaha, Nebraska, the very heart of the American heartland.Omaha is dangerous, not in itself, but due to the entirely weird position it inhabits inside the electoral college. In one of those strange freaks of American politics, Nebraska has a split electoral college vote, and for the past few elections the city of Omaha has reliably voted Democrat. The other four electoral districts vote solidly Republican. Ordinarily, this little hiccup in the system wouldn’t matter much. But 2024 represents a uniquely precarious moment.Stephen Marche is a Canadian essayist and novelist. He is the author of The Next Civil War and How Shakespeare Changed Everything Continue reading...
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/sep/19/nebraska-electoral-system-trump-win-election
American democracy is facing significant threats from multiple angles, with the electoral college system potentially playing a critical role in upcoming elections. The split electoral vote in Omaha, Nebraska could become a crucial factor in determining the presidential victor. Manipulating this system could lead to contested outcomes and even trigger a contingent election, favoring Republicans. This intricate situation highlights the complexities and vulnerabilities of the US democratic process, emphasizing the urgent need for structural reforms to ensure fair and transparent elections.