The decision marks a failed attempt by the Hamilton Electors movement to allow electors to vote their consciences, as Alexander Hamilton had hoped, in favor of letting states dictate the rules, as the Constitution allows. By my count, it could be 274 to 264 in the Electoral College. “This is going to make problems worse,” exclaimed Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). Election of the president by direct, popular vote would raise many serious problems — such as what to do about recounts, voter fraud, and even the question of who would count the votes. And more than a third of the faithless votes come in 1872, when the Democratic Party’s nominee (Horace Greeley) died just after Election Day. Colorado passed a law that allowed faithless electors to be replaced immediately with an alternate, and Washington imposed a $1,000 fine for electors who voted differently from the public at large. While the Constitution left the actual selection method of a state’s electors up to each state’s legislative body, James Madison and Alexander Hamilton expressed dissatisfaction when Pennsylvania and Maryland opted to use a “winner-take-all” method. Alexander Hamilton was an advocate of elitist democracy who did not trust ordinary people to vote. The Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion on July 6, 2020, that says states can require Electoral College voters to back the winner of their state's popular vote in a presidential election. Therefore, it was decided that the number of electoral votes would be determined by combining the number of representatives of each state in the House, along with every state’s two senators. The Constitution originally provided that each elector vote for two candidates: The top vote-getter would become president and the person with the second-highest votes would become vice-president. But what if they had been? These two originalist positions divide between a higher regard for the original purpose of electors and the original means of selecting and regulating them. Changing from the “winner-take-all” method now used by 48 of 50 states to a congressional district method would move us closer to the vision of the Framers of the Constitution; however, such a method would require either a constitutional amendment or a change in the laws by the legislatures of the several states. Several celebrities, including Martin Sheen, who played the U.S. president in “The West Wing,” urged Republican electors to be “an American hero” by blocking Donald Trump from winning. In regard to the third objection, it is safe to assume that such a statement could be made about a large portion of the Constitution — even the amendments added since 1789, when the original document was ratified. See our Privacy Policy and Third Party Partners to learn more about the use of data and your rights. Judge James L. Buckley holds the rare distinction of having served in all three branches of the federal government. State legislatures could use their discretion about how to choose electors, which could result in elitist or popular forms of democracy in different states. “But that is 180 out of over 23,000. Sign up to receive email updates from YES! He also thought highly of the Electoral College. That will both preserve the Electoral College as a part of American democracy and ensure it functions as most people believe it does: turning the presidential election into a state-by-state popular contest. At best, members of Congress have given presidents open-ended “authorizations of force,” ceding their power to the White House as to when and how such force should be used. The comparison can be made to members of the House of Representatives. However, these proposals could make the president beholden to state officials. The supporters of faithless electors took a position grounded in the intent of the framers, the usually conservative theory known as originalism. In what three ways did the presidential election process change as a result of the election of 1800? The Constitution provides that if no single candidate receives a majority of the electoral votes, then the House of Representatives shall choose the president. Five Clinton electors also refused to vote with their states’ majorities: Three chose former Secretary of State Colin Powell and one each chose Sen. Bernie Sanders and Native American activist Faith Spotted Eagle. The 10th anniversary of the opening of the Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility was Wednesday. Another assumption that the Framers apparently made was that each elector would use his own independent judgment in how to cast his vote. Two of the electors complied; the third, a 23-year-old graduate student named Michael Baca, refused, and found himself replaced by a Democratic elector, who then promptly cast his vote for … In the oral arguments in May, she had asked a piercing question: “Suppose that I read the Constitution and I find that it just doesn’t say anything about this subject … What should I then do and why?”, In the decision she observed that “the Constitution is barebones about electors.” Because the text merely says that each state will appoint electors “in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct” (Article II, §1), this gives individual states great latitude.
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