Electoral College meetups

[Darnell 8,478]

So, a delegate in the Electoral College is not legally bound to cast his/her vote reflecting the winner in the popular vote in that district.

 

Any thoughts on politicking the Electoral College Delegates?

[Dashinka 24,477]

Well, there were more than normal occurring in 2016 mostly impacting Hillary, but who knows this year.

[Steeleballz 7,550]

1 hour ago, Darnell said:

So, a delegate in the Electoral College is not legally bound to cast his/her vote reflecting the winner in the popular vote in that district.

 

Any thoughts on politicking the Electoral College Delegates?

 

   We had seven faithless electors in 2016. At this time, Biden is trending towards 306 electoral votes, so Trump needs a net gain of 38 electors. I'm not seeing where that would come from. The people in these delegations are hardcore supporters of their chosen party. The only reason we saw seven faithless electors in 2016 is because of the overwhelming unpopularity of the candidates, and none of them actually switched to the other candidate IIRC, just picked a different candidate. I think Bernie Sanders got one, Colin Powell got one, and some people I've never heard of.

 

   I would say snowballs chance in hell of pulling it off if the electoral votes stand. If Trump comes back in Arizona and wins recounts in Georgia and Wisconsin, then there is an outside shot. It it ever did happen, it would be a closer election than this one is right now. It would also probably be the beginning of the end for the electoral college.

[Steeleballz 7,550]

17 minutes ago, Dashinka said:

Well, there were more than normal occurring in 2016 mostly impacting Hillary, but who knows this year.

 

  There have been 157 faithless electors in our entire history, but 71 were because one of the candidates died after the election but before the vote. That puts the real average at less than 2 per election. I would be worried about this potential in a 270-268 outcome, but not really where we are right now.

[Steeleballz 7,550]

  I would add here, the supreme court ruling in response to the legal outcomes of the 2016 faithless electors was that states are allowed to enforce the electoral vote to ensure that it represents the outcome. Colorado removed Michael Baca as an elector in 2016 after he attempted to vote for John Kasich and replaced him with an elector who voted for the candidate who won the popular vote. Twenty nine states have laws requiring the elector to remain faithful, but not all of them include replacing the elector. Some are fines and misdemeanor charges.