Obama Ally Panics Over Proposed Election Change

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(UnitedVoice.com) – Nebraska officials are pushing to change the way the state distributes Electoral College votes. Conservatives, including former President Donald Trump, are calling for the change. Critics, including former President Barack Obama’s ex-campaign manager, are raising alarms about the change.

Jim Messina, Obama’s 2012 campaign manager, spoke out against Nebraska Republicans who are reportedly putting pressure on the state’s nonpartisan, unicameral legislature. The GOP, supported by Trump and Republican Gov. Jim Pillen, wants the state to start giving the majority winner of the state all of the Electoral College votes.

Currently, Nebraska and Maine are the only two that give out one electoral vote to the winner of each county. In 2020, Trump received four of Nebraska’s electoral votes, and President Joe Biden received one.

Republicans introduced a bill to change that. Critics say the move is designed to help Trump win the election. Messina appeared on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” saying, “Changing the rules 200 days before the election is ridiculous.” He went on to accuse the “modern Republican Party” of trying to alter the rules in the middle of an election “to benefit themselves.”

For those who think the one electoral vote wouldn’t matter, Messina dispelled that notion. He explained the “easiest path to victory has always been” Nebraska and the three other Midwestern states.

There are 538 Electoral College votes total. If everything from 2020 stays the same (including the split vote in Nebraska) but Trump manages to win back Georgia, Arizona, and get Nevada, that would still give Biden the win with 270 votes to Trump’s 268. However, if Nebraska suddenly changes the rules, it would give Biden 269 and Trump 269, splitting the vote. The House of Representatives would then have to decide.

There’s already a bill in Nebraska to change the rules. However, it doesn’t appear it’s going to go anywhere this year. The state has tried to pass similar bills in the past, including in 2016, when it failed by just one vote.