2016 electoral college voting **live commentary thread**

[emailking]

I wonder if we'll have faithless presidential electors if there going to be any in VP vote.

If any, it will probably be on the dem side by electors trying to make a mockery of the system. I'm guessing Pence probably gets 306.

[emailking]

NH:
4 votes for Clinton for President

4 votes for Kaine for VP

Hillary is the first woman to receive an electoral vote for President!

[emailking]

FAITHLESS ELECTOR IN MINNESOTA, PREVENTED BY MINNESOTA LAW.

Was he trying to vote for John Ewards again?

Does anyone know what happened in 2004 and who did he vote for VP?

It was probably a mistake and s/he voted for Edwards for VP.

[emailking]

So then, 2 women get electoral votes for President.

[emailking]

Which VP vote was Faith Spotted Eagle paired with?

[emailking]

Also with no electoral college, the campaign would have been different. Trump could have won the popular vote in a popular vote campaign. But who knows though.

I think this argument had more merit in Bush/Gore. 2.8 million votes is a lot to make up. Granted, we'll never know for sure.

[emailking]

VP votes?

[emailking]

Crazy how if Trump won the popular vote, all of those CA electors would have had to vote Republican.

They would be Trump electors though. The Compact doesn't make electors automatically bound. It determines what slate of electors wins.

[emailking]

Crazy how if Trump won the popular vote, all of those CA electors would have had to vote Republican.

Also is crazy to think that if the National Vote Interstate Compact had been in law in Michigan and Pennsylvania, We would be going to the house more than likely

I don't see why. It only takes effect when it's been passed with enough states to claim a majority of electoral votes outright.

[emailking]

Why hasn't 270towin added Nevada yet?

They have now.

[emailking]

Congress wouldn't count it though, since he's ineligible.

[emailking]

Pretty silly to even have people as electors at all though if they are required to vote for the candidate to whom they are pledged. Why not just eliminate the middleman?

I mean, I get that the literal answer to that in Minnesota's case is because it wouldn't be constitutional, but the whole "you must vote this way, or else" thing is something you'd expect from a tinhorn dictator.

Agreed. I think that's why there's serious doubt about the Constitutionality of these faithless elector laws. It seems pretty clear that the legislatures get to determine the manner of selection of the electors, but what is the point if they have to vote a certain way?

[emailking]

Pretty silly to even have people as electors at all though if they are required to vote for the candidate to whom they are pledged. Why not just eliminate the middleman?

I mean, I get that the literal answer to that in Minnesota's case is because it wouldn't be constitutional, but the whole "you must vote this way, or else" thing is something you'd expect from a tinhorn dictator.

Agreed. I think that's why there's serious doubt about the Constitutionality of these faithless elector laws. It seems pretty clear that the legislatures get to determine the manner of selection of the electors, but what is the point if they have to vote a certain way?

What is the point of determining the manner of election, if the manner of election is based on votes for the presidential candidates, but the electors don't vote for those candidates?

You're describing what we've de facto morphed the system into, not the way in which it was designed. It wasn't intended to just be a rubber stamp like it is now. Most states didn't even have a popular vote initially.

[emailking]

Powell's votes came from Democrats.

[emailking]

So I assume this means that Powell got the second most electoral votes of any African-American in history (after Obama)?

Yeah, they're the only African Americans to ever receive electoral votes.

[emailking]

If someone refused to cast a ballot or cast a blank ballot you presumably would have no problem with their replacement, since their action is in violation of the 12th Amendment.

Well that's happened before actually, in DC in 2000, and it was accepted.

Colorado permits voters to appoint the electors. Colorado could lose representation in Congress if voters are disenfranchised. The Democratic Party required the electors to pledge that they would vote for the presidential candidates of the party. Had they not executed that pledge, they would not have been chosen electors. If there is no surety that they would vote for Clinton and Kaine then voters would have been less likely to vote for them. And if they were permitted to disregard their pledge, then they would in effect be disenfranchising voters who expected them to vote for Clinton and Kaine.

I mean, I think you make a good argument why maybe the electoral college should be abolished or the electoral votes should be automatic without electors, but that doesn't make these faithless elector laws any less unconstitutional as it stands.

[emailking]

I was more interested in why he voted for Fiorina for VP (assuming it's the same guy). I like the analogy with 300 though.