Explained: Maine and Nebraska's confounding 'split vote'

Maine and Nebraska's split vote revives electoral college debate

A car driver holds a sign at Black Lives Matter plaza near the White House after Election Day in Washington, DC. Reuters

An Oregon State Trooper hits a protester with his baton while dispersing a crowd of black bloc protesters in Portland. AFP

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Minneapolis State Patrol arrest journalists and people protesting against racism and issues with the presidential election after they blocked interstate 94 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. AFP

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Police officers line up alongside interstate 94 blocked by protestors marching against racism and issues with the presidential election in Minneapolis, Minnesota. AFP

Minneapolis State Patrol arrest journalists and people protesting against racism and issues with the presidential election after they blocked interstate 94 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. AFP

A woman pulls a child away from a protest crowd as it passes a downtown restaurant in Portland, Oregon. AFP

Black bloc protesters pull a barrier into the street while running from police in Portland, Oregon. AFP

Clark County Registrar of Voters Joe Gloria, left, is interrupted by a disgruntled member of the public during a press conference outside Clark County Election Department, in North Las Vegas. AFP

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A cyclist wears a banner at Black Lives Matter plaza near the White House after Election Day in Washington, U.S., November 5, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay

The past two days have been filled with claims of states being called too early as mail-in votes have flooded in, and with some states experienced counting delays.

This has lead to different news agencies and pundits publishing differing Electoral College votes for the competing candidates.

What is going on?

Apart from the rapidly developing situation with mail-in votes, both Maine and Nebraska do not use the “winner takes all” approach in the Electoral College system, where a candidate who wins the popular vote in a state, wins all of the electoral votes. Instead, they opt for something called the "congressional district method." News of each candidate pulling ahead in those states quickly caused confusion.

The Electoral College system has been highly controversial over the years, sometimes delivering victories for candidates who did not win the popular vote – as happened in 2016, when President Donald Trump received 3 million votes less than Hilary Clinton.

In America’s federal system, some states decided to opt out of this winner takes all system and inject a little more local democracy into the process, by applying the congressional district method.

In Maine, two of its four electoral votes go to the candidate who wins the most votes in the state, but then an electoral vote is given to candidates who win the most votes in its congressional districts.

This can lead to a split result in the state, which has confused some pundits. For the state as a whole, Maine has not voted entirely Republican since 1988.

The state decided to split the vote in 1820 after seceding from Massachusetts, but has experimented with both approaches since then, settling back to the split system in 1972.

Energising local democracy was exactly what Ernie Chambers wanted when he served on the Nebraska state legislature from 1971, retiring earlier this year.

Political scientist Andrew R Schrock recounted in a viral twitter thread how Mr Chambers fought for Nebraska's right to keep the split vote, after facing multiple challenges from Republicans to the state's status, soon after it adopted the system in 1992.

Because of Mr Chambers' efforts, Nebraska still gives two of its five electoral votes to the state-wide winner, leaving three votes for congressional districts.