In a dramatic vote late Wednesday night, Nebraska lawmakers overwhelmingly rejected a procedural motion that could have cleared the way for the replacement of the state's unique system for presidential elections with the winner-take-all model deployed in 48 other states.
The Legislature voted 8-36 on a procedural motion from Sen. Julie Slama that, if successful, would have allowed lawmakers to then vote on legislation to eliminate Nebraska's system for presidential elections that allowed Joe Biden and Barack Obama to each pick up a single electoral vote in the state in 2020 and 2008, respectively.
While the vote lawmakers took late Wednesday was not directly tied to the winner-take-all legislation — which former President Donald Trump and Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen implored Republican lawmakers in the state's formally nonpartisan Legislature to pass this week — Slama cast the vote on the procedural moment as "the last chance to pass winner-take-all this session."
"Make no mistake about it — that vote on the motion to overrule the chair is your vote on winner-take-all," Slama said in the minutes before the vote. "We're gonna find out where you stand. You cannot hide behind this being just a procedural vote. You will be called out for what it is.
"The state is watching. The country is watching."
The Dunbar lawmaker who has for years championed conservative election policies needed 23 votes on her motion. In the end, only seven conservatives joined Slama in casting a "yes" vote on her procedural motion.
Even if lawmakers had supported Slama's procedural motion, it's unlikely the Legislature would have ever taken a vote on her amendment to adopt the winner-take-all legislation to the unrelated bill (LB1300) that she sought to add it to.
Instead, Democrats in the Legislature would have filibustered Slama's amendment — a move that she would have needed 33 votes to overcome — likely killing both her amendment and the underlying bill, a so-called Christmas-tree package of legislation prioritized by Sen. Eliot Bostar of Lincoln, a Democrat.
"If we do reach 23 green votes, the whole thing is dead," Bostar said before the procedural vote, urging his colleagues to vote against Slama's motion. "It's that simple."
Instead, the procedural vote marked a blow to Slama — as well as to Trump and Pillen, both of whom called on Nebraska lawmakers to change the state's presidential election system this week after Charlie Kirk, a right-wing activist and radio show host, made a social media post highlighting a potential scenario in which the state's decades-old election system could cost Trump the presidency in November.
The post has since garnered more than 2 million views and turned a national spotlight on Nebraska's Legislature, which, in the face of out-of-state pressure, rejected the legislation — at least for now.
Sen. Loren Lippincott of Central City, who initially introduced the legislation as a standalone bill in January 2023, said after Wednesday's vote that he is still working to get the bill over the finish line. His bill (LB764) has been stalled in the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee for more than a year.
Lippincott said he hopes to attach the bill as an amendment to LB541, introduced by Sen. John Lowe of Kearney, giving it another chance in the Legislature.
But Lowe's bill hasn't been scheduled for debate with five days left in this year's legislative session — and it remains unclear if the winner-take-all system, even if it no longer poses a threat to Bostar's priority bill, has the support needed to overcome an inevitable filibuster.
"Most likely, this year, it doesn't look promising," Lippincott said after Wednesday's dramatic vote. "Next year, we're gonna give it the varsity try."
Sen. Mike McDonnell of Omaha, who switched his party registration from Democrat to Republican on Wednesday, remains opposed to the winner-take-all model, he told the Journal Star.
His opposition combined with the political realities of the 49-member Legislature — made up of 32 other Republicans, 15 registered Democrats and one nonpartisan progressive — suggests the legislation still does not have enough support to overcome the filibuster it will inevitably face, one that looms with six days left in this year's legislative session.
If the Legislature does vote on the proposal later this year, the margins will be narrow.
Sens. Ray Aguilar of Grand Island, Merv Riepe of Ralston and Lou Ann Linehan of Elkhorn — Republicans who have been known to buck their party or, in Linehan's case, show deference to institutions rather than partisan politics — all said Wednesday they support the switch to a winner-take-all system.
Slama and Lippincott's efforts are the latest in a series of conservative-led attempts seeking to eliminate Nebraska's presidential election system, which state lawmakers established in 1991.
Under the quirky system, which is also used in Maine, two of Nebraska's five electoral votes are awarded to the presidential ticket that wins the most votes statewide while the other three go to the winner of each of the state’s three congressional districts.
Lawmakers have tried to undo the system repeatedly in the decades since the Legislature established it, twice sending repeal bills to former Gov. Ben Nelson's desk in the 1990s, but the Democrat vetoed the legislation both times.
Since then, similar legislation has reached the floor of the Legislature six times — escaping the committee where Lippincott's version of the bill stalled — but none of those proposals have made it to the governor's desk.
Nebraska's election system survived a close call in 2016, when a proposal (LB10) to return the state to a winner-take-all system fell one vote short of overcoming a filibuster. Trump won all five of the state's electoral votes eight months later.
Sen. Julie Slama filed an amendment Wednesday to put legislation to replace the state's unique system for presidential elections with a winner-take-all model before lawmakers as soon as Wednesday afternoon.