Author Topic: Here's another possible bit of drama for the election  (Read 490 times)

just Warren

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 5,234
  • My DJ name is Heavy Cream.
Here's another possible bit of drama for the election
« on: November 04, 2020, 01:51:26 PM »
And it will fit in perfectly with how the rest of 2020 has gone.

What if the race is so close that a faithless elector changes the result?

There are 33 states that prohibit this but according to Wikipedia, half of those do not have enforcement mechanisms and in some it's just a small fine that likely would be covered by sympathizers.

SCOTUS has ruled that states are free to set the rules for this as they please so they'll not likely hear any challenges to potential penalties, but if a state doesn't have an enforcement mechanism it's like not having a penalty at all. So the only cost to an elector is their future with their nominal party. On the other hand they'll be welcomed into the other party with open arms.

The EV count would have to very close for this to be a possibility at all as it's unlikely there will be enough people willing to switch sides. And switching sides isn't what happen anyway, as faithless electors tend to to throw out protest votes to people who have no chance of winning.

But, what if?

What if someone or a few switch? And the result of the election does change, what would that mean for the country going forward?
Member in Good Standing of the Spontaneous Order of the Invisible Hand.

dogmush

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 13,671
Re: Here's another possible bit of drama for the election
« Reply #1 on: November 04, 2020, 01:54:36 PM »
Boy, THAT would get the "Abolish the Electoral College" movement really rolling.