Electoral Tiebreaker Nebraska Redraws District Lines in Favor of GOP

There is a chance that a tie-breaking electoral vote from the 2nd congressional district in Omaha, Nebraska could decide this election. In 2008 an Obama win in this district in one of the strongest of Republican states was so alarming that a reshuffling of potential Democratic voters was accomplished by the redrawing of district lines.

The most impressive victory of President Obama’s 2008 campaign may have also been the most minute: he won a single electoral vote by a single percentage point in Nebraska’s Second Congressional District

But after the election, Nebraska Republicans responded with a fairly simple strategy. They moved the Second District even farther behind the battlements, redrawing the district lines after the 2010 Census to make it more Republican and “avoid what they considered to be the debacle of losing the seat to Obama in 2008,” Mr. Landow said.

The Second District’s new boundaries make it more likely that all five of Nebraska’s electoral votes will go to Mitt Romney this year.

fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com...

While many media opinions consider an electoral tie of 269-269 to be a very remote possibility, it appears that Republican lawmakers are busy leaving no stone unturned to undermine the Democratic Party in Nebraska by redistricting as well as an earlier unsuccessful attempt to abruptly close polling places in predominately Democratic voting areas without public input and sending out wrong polling information to voters in these areas.

See article with graph with possible electoral tie information:
www.omaha.com...

Link to more information about Nebraska's 2nd congressional district:
en.wikipedia.org...

For more info on the attempt to close polling places see my prior thread:
www.abovetopsecret.com...

reply to post by TZela


I don't think Mitt is going to win Iowa and Nevada.

So I don't think a tie scenario is very likely.

reply to post by Taiyed


You are probably right the odds may be against a tie but I have seen more what-if articles being written within the last month. One thing I want to point out is that these articles often state that they do not expect Obama to win in Nebraska's 2nd district this year, but most do not point out that the reason for this is likely due to the gerrymandering that occurred affecting this district after the 2008 election where Obama unexpectedly won.

Now, several factors help break against the possibility of a deadlock. In Nebraska and Maine, the electoral votes are awarded to the winners of the states' congressional districts. These states don't often end up dividing their electoral votes between competitors, but in 2008 Obama stole an electoral vote from Nebraska. That's not, however, seen as a likely outcome in this election.

www.huffingtonpost.com...

While it may not come into play if no electoral tie occurs this year, it can affect future elections and should be an important issue to voters. The flurry of legislation and media coverage of the almost non existent problem of voter fraud is a great example of how focus is misdirected. It detracts from the real big problem of lawmakers and election officials working to undermine a fair election process in ways that far outweigh the very rare and isolated occurrance of voter fraud by individual voters. This is happening all over the country with no real backlash or accountability.

Nebraska has a whopping 5 electoral votes. I don't think that's going to make it or break it for either candidate.

reply to post by TZela


Yes, I agree with those points.

Obama will not win that district and it is directly because of gerrymandering.

Just another example of stealing the voice of the people.

reply to post by HappyBunny


Actually one of two states that split electoral votes, Maine or Nebraska could be the deciding vote in an electoral tie. If Obama won the 2nd district in Nebraska again as in 2008 the deciding vote for him could come from within one of the strongest Republican states in the country. But if there is a tie and he loses the 2nd district in Nebraska then the redistricting effort will be mission accomplished for the GOP. This could get real interesting if there is a tie.

I'm actually interested in exposing shenanigans like this no matter what party or candidate is involved. As of right now I'm not sure I am motivated enough to leave home tomorrow to pick between keeping the current rotten apple in the basket or replacing it with a new one.

After every census, every state looks at redistricting. Whoever's in power gets to draw the lines, as long as it's acceptable to a judge after the other side challenges it. Democrat or Republican, it happens every 10 years. Nothing nefarious.