On this year's electoral map, a lonely blue island stands out among a sea of red in the middle of the country: the Omaha metropolitan region. In 48 states, this would not affect the state’s electoral voters, who are supposed to back the same candidate in a winner-takes-all system. But since 1992, Nebraska has adopted a different method: Two of its five electoral votes are distributed to the overall winner of the state’s popular vote, and the remaining three go to the winner in each of the state’s three congressional districts. So this year, despite nearly 60 percent of the state supporting Donald Trump, one of Nebraska’s electoral votes—that of the Second Congressional District—will go to Joe Biden.

“When the conditions