1 citizen | 1 vote
Winner take all ?
Sounds pretty good, right? Loser takes none! Hmm.
Sounds like a recipe for an argument. An ongoing, deepening, divisive argument.
What are we doing here? Is this a hockey tournament? Or a Presidential election?
Is this a time-tested process to ensure a balanced and fair society?
====================================================================================================
There is an arc, across history, that bends toward justice. Do you agree?
Individual rights. Women can vote. Free speech. No slaves. Equal opportunity.
The US Presidential election: we elect a leader of the people – ALL the people in the USA. When you pay your Federal Income Tax, you pay it to the Federal government. So does every other US citizen. We don’t pay it to our state! Recall: No taxation without representation? You, citizen, should directly elect the representative who taxes you.
If the arc bends toward justice, then each member of society should have a vote. One person, one vote. Count the votes, the person with the most votes wins. Makes sense.
If you take away the vote of the people of the largest city in Nebraska, Omaha, you will anger many of the residents of Omaha, and the rest of the 2nd Congressional District.
======================================================================================================
Nebraska is the only state in the Union with a Unicameral Legislature. Innovative.
In 1991, a Nebraska lawmaker, DiAnna Schimek, introduced a bill to allow electoral college votes to be decided by popular vote in congressional districts. Innovative.
She noted that her main motivation in introducing the bill was to allow people to think their vote counted.
That is a terrific way to manage a productive, agreeable, happy society.
=========================================================================================================
The US Electoral College is a band-aid the Founders adopted to manage a national election. There were no phones, internet, trains, or widespread newspaper distribution. Transportation was horseback or walking. The idea was a failure right from the start. The election of 1800 was mired in controversy, with Jefferson and Burr tied at 73 electoral votes. The election was thrown to the House of Representatives, where it required 36! separate ballots before Thomas Jefferson was elected President.
Today, we are still burdened with this anachronism, which distorts our election and disenfranchises millions of voters. It is a source of the angry rhetoric in our public sphere. The states contested in the 2020 election were ALL SWING STATES!
Choosing electoral college votes by congressional district is still not “one person one vote”; but it is closer than a statewide choice. Get on the right side of history here.
Nebraska: Vote NO on any attempt to alter the electoral college vote count. The election is now less than 40 days out.