BEATRICE – It appears Nebraska lawmakers will get a final shot this session at considering a switch to the winner-take-all system of allocating electoral votes in presidential elections.


LB-3, sponsored by Senator Loren Lippincott at the request of Governor Jim Pillen, is back on the agenda Tuesday, when lawmakers tackle day 57 of floor debate in this 90-day legislative session.


Senator Myron Dorn, of Adams says typically, bills undergo up to eight hours debate on first round, four on second round and two hours on final reading, before there can be a vote to cease debate.


Dorn says the Speaker has set a tighter limit on the winner-take-all measure. "Tuesday afternoon, we're going to start when we come back to session, at 1:30 (pm)...we will start on LB-3, the Winner-Take-All...and he announced it will be four-two-one, instead of eight-four-two....so we will stay that day until we vote, which should be around five-thirty, six o'clock."


Nebraska has, since 1992, allocated two electoral votes based on the statewide popular vote….and one vote for each of the three congressional districts. Democrats have twice picked off an electoral vote in recent years from Omaha’s Second District. Dorn says the outcome on LB 3 is anybody’s guess.


"As we sit here today, if I had to predict, I don't know if it will pass, or not. I don't know that there are 33 votes....that's what it's going to take for cloture. That is one of the reasons that I think the bill is being scheduled. The Speaker did say he thought most people had their mind made up, on this. If you go by what most people have said it probably won't pass. But, you never know."


Dorn introduced a proposed constitutional amendment to allow voters to decide the winner-take-all issue in the November 2026 election. If lawmakers cannot get to that amendment this session, it could be held over for next year’s session.


To this point, state lawmakers have given final approval to over one-hundred bills. Dorn, who is on the Appropriations Committee….says that committee will be working through the noon-hour this week on the state budget…..a two-year plan that must be approved this session by lawmakers.