Sunday, May 22, 2011

Quick, someone give the Omaha World-Herald a copy of Maine's statutes

Last Tuesday, the Omaha World-Herald, reporting on GOP redistricting shenanigans in Nebraska (presided over by TransCanada's little helper, State Sen. Chris Langemeier of Schuyler — the Unicameral's answer to Dick Cheney) made the following pronouncement:
The state [Nebraska] has a unique system of awarding an electoral vote to the highest vote-getter in each congressional district — a system Republicans have been trying to change since 2008.
Ah, "unique" means singular; one of a kind. So, is Nebraska's system (called the Congressional District Method) really unique? Let's compare it to oh, say, Maine's, shall we?
Nebraska: "Each congressional district presidential elector shall cast his or her ballot for the presidential and vice-presidential candidates who received the highest number of votes in his or her congressional district."

Maine: "The presidential electors of each congressional district shall cast their ballots for the presidential and vice-presidential candidates who received the largest number of votes in each respective congressional district."

AKSARBENT's point is this: any reporter can make a mistake, but the fact that Nebraska shares with Maine the distinction of being able to split its electoral votes is not an obscure fact. Google "split electoral vote" for Pete's sake.

The World-Herald should have corrected this by now.

But it hasn't.

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