Which States Split Their Electoral Votes?
Only two states split their electoral votes: Maine and Nebraska. The other 48 states and D.C. award all their electors to the candidate who wins the statewide popular vote, the system known as winner-take-all.
How Maine and Nebraska do it
Both states use the congressional district method. The statewide winner gets two electoral votes, representing the state’s two Senate seats, and the winner of each congressional district gets one more.
- Maine (4 electoral votes): two statewide and one for each of its two districts. Maine passed the law in 1969, and it first applied in 1972.
- Nebraska (5 electoral votes): two statewide and one for each of its three districts. Nebraska adopted the system in 1991, and it first applied in 1992.
It isn’t proportional. Winning a district by one vote earns the same elector as winning it by 30 points.
When they’ve split
Each state has split its votes three times, always over a single district:
| Year | State | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Nebraska | McCain 4, Obama 1 (2nd District, Omaha) |
| 2016 | Maine | Clinton 3, Trump 1 (2nd District) |
| 2020 | Maine | Biden 3, Trump 1 (2nd District) |
| 2020 | Nebraska | Trump 4, Biden 1 (2nd District) |
| 2024 | Maine | Harris 3, Trump 1 (2nd District) |
| 2024 | Nebraska | Trump 4, Harris 1 (2nd District) |
The fight over winner-take-all
Because a single electoral vote can decide a close race, both states face recurring pressure to change. Nebraska Republicans have tried repeatedly to return to winner-take-all, since Democrats have carried the Omaha-based 2nd District in three of the last five elections. In 2024, the push, which could have turned a narrow Harris win into a 269-269 tie, fell short in the Legislature. It failed again in 2025, blocked by a filibuster, and a 2026 petition drive to put it on the ballot was abandoned. Maine has seen occasional proposals to go back to winner-take-all as well.
What if every state split its votes?
Some reformers have proposed that every state adopt the district method. That would shrink the focus on statewide battlegrounds but create a new set of them: competitive congressional districts. It also wouldn’t guarantee that the popular vote winner takes office. Under the district method, Mitt Romney would have won the 2012 election even though he lost the popular vote by nearly 4 points. And because the outcome would depend partly on how district lines are drawn, gerrymandering would reach the presidential race. (See our analysis of what would happen if every state split its votes.)
Other ways to change allocation
A state could also award electors in proportion to its popular vote; Colorado voters rejected that idea in 2004. Or it could join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, which would award its electors to the national winner once states with 270 electoral votes sign on. As of 2026, 18 states and D.C., with 222 electoral votes, have joined.