Wayward5oul -> RE: Should Michael Moore Face ... (12/22/2016 4:29:35 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: BamaD quote:
ORIGINAL: Wayward5oul quote:
ORIGINAL: igor2003 quote:
ORIGINAL: DesideriScuri quote:
ORIGINAL: igor2003 If it is wrong for Moore to offer to pay fines for people because that is attempting to influence their decision, then threatening to fine the person if he doesn't vote your way is just as wrong because it is still trying to influence their decision. Goose - gander, pot - kettle etc. It's not the same, igor. The laws (of most states) state that Electors have to vote according to the popular vote in that state. That's the rule. If you break the rule, there are (or may be, as it seems faithless electors haven't always been punished for breaking the rule) consequences. In most states, Electors are, pretty much, just rubberstampers. What Michael Moore did was quite different. All that being said, Moore didn't try to bribe people to vote for his candidate. What he did was offer to accept their consequences if they felt compelled to violate the rules. This wouldn't result in financial benefits to the Elector if he changes his vote. The elector would be no better off than if he didn't follow the rules. I don't think Moore didn't anything illegal. Regardless of state laws, if a person is threatened with being fined for not voting the way other people (or the state) wants him to it is still a means of making that person vote a certain way, and as such is just as wrong (or right) as Moore offering to pay said fines. If people were supposed to not be allowed to vote some other way, then what, exactly, is the purpose of using electors to do the voting? It seems it would be much easier to simply convert the votes of the citizens into electoral votes without going through the middle man (the electors). If there are enough citizen votes to elect an elector, and if that elector is not allowed to vote some other way, then what the hell is the point? Just turn the citizen votes into electoral votes. I've kind of always wondered this. I believe that there are 21 states that allow don't require electors to vote with the popular vote. So if over half of the states legally require their electors to vote in line with the popular vote in the state, why even bother to have electors? Just have the state certify the vote and send it on. And then, why the big to-do on Jan 6, where there is a Joint Session of Congress, the electoral votes are counted, and members of Congress can then object? For any objections to be considered, it has to be submitted in writing, and be signed by a Representative and a Senator. If that happens, the chambers split up and each considers the objections in meetings that last no more than two hours, and where the ones who object are allowed to speak for no more than 5 minutes. Then each chamber votes to accept or reject objection, the chambers meet together again, and announce their decisions. If they both accept the objection, the vote is not counted. If they both reject it, the vote is counted. Like any objection would ever make it through all of that. Apparently there have only been a couple of times that there were objections, and each time they were voted down. Its all just a big farce. Seriously. Not quite right, see the election of 1876 when a special committee was set up to determine which of two sets of electors was to be accepted. It was because of that debacle that the Electoral Count Act of 1887 was passed, which outlined the process I described above. https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/3/15
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