Today’s Links
Articles
VOX – The bill that could make it harder to overturn an election
National Archives – About the electors
History Channel – How Are Electoral College Electors Chosen?
LawFare – Correcting Misconceptions About the Electoral Count Reform Act
Goddard Media – Taegan Goddard’s Electoral Vote Map
Groups Taking Action:
Brennan Center, Protect Democracy, League of Women Voters
You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.
In our second episode on the new Electoral Count Act amendments introduced July 20, today, we’re talking about how the electors are chosen, and what reforms are being proposed to keep the system from being manipulated.
The Constitution doesn’t say much about how electors are chosen. Electors get their jobs in different ways, depending on your state and political party rules. Most often, political parties elect or appoint a slate of electors prior to the election, and often this occurs during a state party convention. Usually, they are party loyalists like state officials, activists, and campaign donors. They can’t be U.S. Senate or House members, who would eventually certify the electoral count.
Technically, when you vote in a Presidential election, you actually are voting for this slate of electors. If your party’s candidate wins, that party’s slate of electors is appointed to go to Washington to submit the vote count. But who appoints the slate after the election? Parties, legislatures or governors?
Vagueness in the Electoral Count Act of 1887 was exploited in 2020, as party extremists tried to create an alternative slate of electors loyal to President Trump, who would be submitted if a pretext could be found to overturn Joe Biden’s win. The 2022 changes proposed for the Electoral Count Act would clarify this, giving the authority to only the governor to appoint the slate of electors.
With some 2020 election-denying gubernatorial candidates contending in the upcoming midterm, are we still in danger? More in tomorrow’s segment, but in the meantime, check out articles on the Electoral Count Act at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.
Granny D said “Democracy is not something we have, it’s something we DO.” For the American Democracy Minute, I’m Brian Beihl.