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tamaka -> RE: I predict Paul Ryan will be our next President (10/28/2016 4:53:39 PM)
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ORIGINAL: MrRodgers
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ORIGINAL: tamaka
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ORIGINAL: MrRodgers
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ORIGINAL: tamaka
Yes it is a thing. And the interesting part is that the electors don't vote till December and the House doesn't count the votes til January. Obama's term ends Jan 20th i believe and if a new president wasn't agreed upon by then, the Speaker of the House (Ryan) would assume the Presidency in the interim. Then if they elected him after that it would be an easy transition since he was already there.
The timing doesn't change the numbers. HRC is looking at 340 to a possible 400 electoral votes, so the rest is merely conversation.
Only if the electors vote with the popular vote which in most states, they don't have to. They can vote for anybody they want, or no one at all.
There is no Constitutional provision or Federal law that requires Electors to vote according to the results of the popular vote in their states. Some states, however, require Electors to cast their votes according to the popular vote. These pledges fall into two categories—Electors bound by state law and those bound by pledges to political parties. (27 states)
The U.S. Supreme Court has held that the Constitution does not require that Electors be completely free to act as they choose and therefore, political parties may extract pledges from electors to vote for the parties' nominees. Some state laws provide that so-called "faithless Electors" may be subject to fines or may be disqualified for casting an invalid vote and be replaced by a substitute elector. The Supreme Court has not specifically ruled on the question of whether pledges and penalties for failure to vote as pledged may be enforced under the Constitution. No Elector has ever been prosecuted for failing to vote as pledged.
Today, it is rare for Electors to disregard the popular vote by casting their electoral vote for someone other than their party's candidate. Electors generally hold a leadership position in their party or were chosen to recognize years of loyal service to the party. Throughout our history as a nation, more than 99 percent of Electors have voted as pledged.
HERE
In other states, electors are legally independent actors who are free to cast their electoral votes for whomever they like. But in practice, anyone who’s on a party’s slate of electors in a state is going to be a staunch party loyalist who will back their pledged candidate anyway.
That kind of defeats the purpose now.... doesn't it?
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