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FAITHLESS ELECTORS & THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE
Should presidential electors be free to vote however they wish? Political intrigue abounds! The Electoral College is in the news! Progressives are quoting Alexander Hamilton and The Federalist Papers!
A “progressive” anti-electoral college group is funding lawsuits to actually enforce Art II, Section 1 of the Constitution and the 12th Amendment in order to free presidential electors from any state imposed restraints. A divided 10th Circuit panel ruled in their favor and have struck down Colorado’s statutory requirement that presidential electors must cast their vote for whomever gets the most votes in the state.
If this decision holds up, the Electoral College will no longer be a mere formality. Electors will be actually decide who becomes the next President—just like it was intended. We tell you all about it in this episode of The Law.
LINKS
The case itself: Baca v. Colorado Department of State
The real plaintiffs: a group called “Equal Citizens”
New York Times article: Electoral College Members Can Defy Voters’ Wishes, Court Rules
From The Constitution Center: Can states control how presidential electors vote?
From the Colorado Sun: “Colorado’s presidential electors don’t have to vote for candidate who wins the state, federal appeals court rules”
Colorado Secretary of State “Electoral College FAQs”
The Law with D.K. Williams Facebook page
Follow The Law with D.K. Williams on Twitter @TheLawDKW
Typo in last paragraph.
“…will be actually decide…”
It seems to me that any law that can predetermine the vote of an elector at any level of the process disenfranchises all electors.
Electors are people, individuals with a mind and free will. Any law that negates the mind and free will of individuals violates the entire premise of the Constitution.
If those individuals selected by their communities to represent them as electors were chosen merely as figureheads, mindless placeholders delivering someone else’s decision, then why pretend there’s any validity to the electoral college at all?
On the other hand, what is to be done about poseurs, deceptive electors who lie and defraud the people to get elected to the position of elector with the covert intent of violating the will of those they were chosen to represent?
This is also much like the “national popular vote” bullshit. If any given state’s legislature can pass a law declaring all votes cast by residents of that state for President/VP shall be nullified and re-cast in accordance with the majority of votes cast by residents of other states as the legislature deems fit, it is unilaterally disenfranchising All residents of that state.
How is this not tyranny, a blatant violation of the supreme law of the land? The Constitution:
“Each of the several states shall be guaranteed a republican form of government.”
This republican form of government is defined by the U.S. Constitution. Any deviance from it is unconstitutional.
No legitimate form of government legislates the outcome of elections! That is a dictatorship, it is tyranny and should be addressed as a capital crime. Why is the notion even entertained? How can it be?
Why are such politicians not charged with a crime?