Here it is: the next presidential election year, 2024.
Last election cycle, the main front runners were Republican billionaire and at-the-time incumbent President Donald Trump, running for his second term, and lifelong politician Joe Biden, a Democrat and former vice-president. After a lot of controversy, including accusations of voter fraud, mail-in voting problems and online voting, Biden won the election, much to the annoyance of many.
This year is likely to be similar.
Currently, at the time of writing, Biden is the likely Democratic nominee as the incumbent. On the Republican side, Trump and Nikki Haley are both running for the nomination. While the winner is still up in the air, Trump has won Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada and is currently considered the front-runner.
If Trump wins the nomination, it is likely that the election will be similar to 2020. Whoever wins would be just as unclear as it was four years ago.
There would be a major difference, though, being the several indictments that have been placed upon Trump – one by Georgia for alleged attempts to falsely overthrow the victory of Biden, one in New York for tax evasion, one in Florida for the mishandling of federal documents (theft and disguising, specifically), and one in Washington, D.C., for attempts to overthrow the election on Jan. 6, 2021.
A concern that many have is whether a felon can run for a political office, let alone president. The technical answer is yes. There is no law in any state or nationwide that prevents a felon or any kind of criminal from running for president. Because of this, if Trump is convicted for any of the crimes he is currently being prosecuted for, then the election will likely be far more complicated.
Trump being accused of being responsible for the 2021 riots will not alone prevent him from running. Although Maine and Colorado are trying to remove him from the ballot for this accusation, the Supreme Court is weighing in on that. The oral arguments were held on Feb. 8.
Trump’s first, second and third court dates are currently set for March 5, March 25, and May 20.
What’s important is the knowledge that Nebraska is one of two states that cast their votes differently from the others, alongside Maine. In these two states, the government sends their votes into the Electoral College (roughly) proportional to their voters. Most other states simply give all their votes to the winning party in their state, also known as “winner-take-all” or “first past the post.”
This is important because the Nebraska-Maine system statistically increases the importance of individual votes. If a state gets 51% pro-Republican, any other state will give all of its votes to the winning party. Nebraska, meanwhile, will give two votes to the majority vote and then award the other three by congressional district. Maine works the same way.
The Republican and Democratic Primaries in Nebraska are both on May 17.
