Faithless electors in a 270-268 election

[ultraviolet]

Everyone’s seen all talk of a 270-268 Biden win, but I haven’t seen much serious discussion of the possibility of faithless electors in that scenario. Obviously the Democratic Party would do everything to ensure no faithless electors, but how sure of that can they be?

Regardless of how plausible faithless electors would be here, I’d still expect the frenzy surrounding it to be unbearable for over a month before the electoral college vote.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Despite all of the issues with Bush's 271-267 "win" in 2000, Gore had the only faithless elector.

[The Mikado]

Is there any legal way to prevent some GOP megadonor from saying "10 million dollars to the first Dem elector to go faithless and vote for not-Biden?" I think that could actually work. (269-268-1 is no overall majority so you don't even need to get someone to vote for Trump, just not-Biden)

[Shaula🏳️‍⚧️]

Is there any legal way to prevent some GOP megadonor from saying "10 million dollars to the first Dem elector to go faithless and vote for not-Biden?" I think that could actually work. (269-268-1 is no overall majority so you don't even need to get someone to vote for Trump, just not-Biden)

I'm pretty sure that's bribery

[The Mikado]

Is there any legal way to prevent some GOP megadonor from saying "10 million dollars to the first Dem elector to go faithless and vote for not-Biden?" I think that could actually work. (269-268-1 is no overall majority so you don't even need to get someone to vote for Trump, just not-Biden)

I'm pretty sure that's bribery

Yes, but Electors don't have a government job or anything. Being an elector isn't a salaried position or an office in the US government. Is bribing them still bribery legally?

[Frodo]

The Supreme Court already addressed this in 2020:

Supreme Court Rules State 'Faithless Elector' Laws Constitutional

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiafalo_v._Washington

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

I seriously doubt that it will be a 270 EC THATS WHY WE HAVE NV, AZ and GA

[David Hume]

The Supreme Court already addressed this in 2020:

Supreme Court Rules State 'Faithless Elector' Laws Constitutional

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiafalo_v._Washington

This case is about state can pass law to remove and replace faithless electors. It did not resolve cases where states do not have such laws.

The problem is about timing. If a faithless elector is from a state without such laws, the presidential vote will be under 270, and turned to the House. There is only two weeks in between. Even if the voters of that state sue the SOS trying to correct it, there may not be enough time to get a decision in time.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Is there any legal way to prevent some GOP megadonor from saying "10 million dollars to the first Dem elector to go faithless and vote for not-Biden?" I think that could actually work. (269-268-1 is no overall majority so you don't even need to get someone to vote for Trump, just not-Biden)

I'm pretty sure that's bribery

Yes, but Electors don't have a government job or anything. Being an elector isn't a salaried position or an office in the US government. Is bribing them still bribery legally?

But aren't Electors constitutional officers, if only for a very brief time?  This would be bribery to perform an official act, which would certainly be illegal.

In any case, I'm sure both parties are taking extra care to make sure that all their electors are loyal enough that they won't cast a faithless vote if it could change the outcome of the election.

[emailking]

Thank goodness for NE-2!

I think a 1 ev win work fine. There's only 1 case in history of a faithless elector who had reason to think his faithless vote could potentially swing the election. Of course they'd come under a ton of pressure and lobbying, as happened in 2000 and 2016, but I don't think it it would amount to anything.

[MABA 2020]

Another reason to hate the EC, this level of possible uncertainty is not good when picking someone for the most powerful position on earth.

[emailking]

Yeah it would be an improvement to make the electoral votes automatic rather than relying on a proxy to cast it correctly.

Even if someone wants to cast their electoral vote faithfully, a mistake can happen as did in 2004 when someone, and no one knows who, apparently accidentally voted for Edwards as President & VP on the same ballot. They changed the law there so it can't happen now, but there's still a handful of states where something like that is possible.

[Unbeatable Titan Susan Collins]

I was thinking about this. I could see a Dem potential faithless elector threatening the party to change policy on Palestine. Not sure how that would go down with the party at large.

[GeorgiaModerate]

I was thinking about this. I could see a Dem potential faithless elector threatening the party to change policy on Palestine. Not sure how that would go down with the party at large.

Unrealistic. How would such an agreement be enforced? The party leaders could agree to anything, and then not follow through.

[Del Tachi]

Odds that the supermajority Nebraska legislature tries to do something hooky if Biden's wine is dependent on that one vote from NE-02? 

[DaleCooper]

Odds that the supermajority Nebraska legislature tries to do something hooky if Biden's wine is dependent on that one vote from NE-02?  

Near zero.

They will try, but they don't have a supermajority on that issue, which is why they haven't gotten rid of the rule.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Also, such a change would need to be made before the election, since the electors on the ballot will be those running under the current system.  And that effort failed for this year in the Nebraska legislature (although it won't surprise me if they do change it at some point).

[Ferguson97]

Odds that the supermajority Nebraska legislature tries to do something hooky if Biden's wine is dependent on that one vote from NE-02? 

This would, no joke, actually start a civil war.

[TDAS04]

Odds that the supermajority Nebraska legislature tries to do something hooky if Biden's wine is dependent on that one vote from NE-02? 

Maybe the Maine legislature could respond somehow in such a scenario?

[GeorgiaModerate]

I'm still waiting for someone to explain how the Nebraska legislature could void the election of a duly elected Democratic elector in NE-2 after the fact. 

Changing the law for an election that hasn't happened is certainly doable (though Nebraska had its chance in this year's session and didn't do it).  Changing the law retroactively to affect an election that already took place is fantasy, and pretty unbelievable fantasy at that.

[Yelnoc]

I'm actually working on an election timeline around this exact scenario!

[Bush did 311]

I fully expect a faithless elector will emerge in a 270-268 scenario to send this country into hellworld.

[BlueSwan]

I fully expect a faithless elector will emerge in a 270-268 scenario to send this country into hellworld.

Yeah, the chance of everything just running smoothly without drama in such a scenario is probably less than 10%. There WILL be shenanigans in that scenario. Not saying that they will succeed in pulling off these shenanigans, but they will definitely try. I mean Trump tried to overturn a 306-232 election. He will most definitely pull ALL of the stunts in trying to overturn a 270-268 election.

[MayorCarcetti]

Could we see some electors in states that go Trump voting Biden instead to cover up any faithless voters for Biden? Can that be done?

[emailking]

I fully expect a faithless elector will emerge in a 270-268 scenario to send this country into hellworld.

Yeah, the chance of everything just running smoothly without drama in such a scenario is probably less than 10%. There WILL be shenanigans in that scenario. Not saying that they will succeed in pulling off these shenanigans, but they will definitely try. I mean Trump tried to overturn a 306-232 election. He will most definitely pull ALL of the stunts in trying to overturn a 270-268 election.

Well the good thing is he will have a lot less power to make something extraconstitutional happen.

Could we see some electors in states that go Trump voting Biden instead to cover up any faithless voters for Biden? Can that be done?

Hypothetically yes there will be some Trump states in which the electors can just vote Biden at the last second if they choose to. I'd be extremely surprised if that happens though. These are not random government officials, they're diehards handpicked by the campaign.