All but two states award their electoral college votes on a winner-take-all basis. To compute the number of electoral college votes a state has, you take the number of Senators (always two) plus the number of representatives. Since Wyoming has only one representative in the House, it gets three electoral votes. Two Senators plus one representative. Pennsylvania has 17 representatives in the House, so it gets 19 electoral college votes.
If the Pennsylvania results in November are Harris, 49%; Trump, 48%; and the Libertarian candidate, 3%; Harris would get all 19 electoral college votes from Pennsylvania.
The exceptions are Maine and Nebraska. Maine has two House districts. The winner of the statewide race would get two electoral college votes and each of the House districts would get one vote. Since Maine is fairly homogeneous, Maine has never split its electoral college votes. This fall Maine will be voting for Harris.
Nebraska also splits its votes. Nebraska has three House districts, one of most of the state, one that represents the southeastern part of the state, and one which represents the Omaha area. While Nebraska is overwhelmingly “red,” the Omaha district will sometimes elect the Democrat running for President, as it did with Obama and with Biden in 2020. The district, which is a very tiny piece of Nebraska, is sometimes labeled “the blue dot.”
The Trump people wanted to change that system and go back to “winner take all,” insuring that Trump would get all five electoral college votes. One state senator, Mike McDonnell, stood in the way. (Nebraska state legislature has only one house.) McDonnell said you don’t change the rules with only 43 days to the election.
McDonnell is a Republican, old school. He has integrity. He plays by the rules. And he has really irritated Donald Trump for doing that.
Until recently, McDonnell was a Democrat. He switched because of his anti-abortion stance.
ReplyDeleteEven that in a way shows that he adheres to his principles.
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