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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsLaurence Tribe: A helpful guide to the next few days
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Laurence Tribe
@tribelaw
A helpful guide to the next few days
What to Watch for on Election Night
The states that matter to the Electoral College countand the chaos that may follow.
thebulwark.com
Laurence Tribe
@tribelaw
A helpful guide to the next few days
What to Watch for on Election Night
The states that matter to the Electoral College countand the chaos that may follow.
thebulwark.com
https://thebulwark.com/what-to-watch-for-on-election-night/
It would be so much simpler in so many ways if we chose our presidents by popular vote. There would be no elections decided by 500 bitterly contested votes in Florida after a Republican majority on the U.S. Supreme Court truncated the count. There would be none determined by a handful of demographically unrepresentative states which, all too often, reflect a bewildering mix of idiosyncratic election laws, parochial issues, and race-based voter suppression.
We wouldnt worry about a squeaker decided by which party controls more congressional delegations. We wouldnt wonder if the election of 2020 will be resolved by a Supreme Court so recently graced by a Republican justice rushed through the Republican Senate, and already tilted by the GOPs stonewalling of a qualified Democratic nominee in 2016. We wouldnt fret over faithless electors.
Nor do these vagaries reflect some higher principle designed for a country of 330 million diverse souls stretched across a vast continent and 50 states. Rather, they reflect a haphazard compromise cobbled together 233 years ago, to satisfy the less than 4 million white citizens of 13 prickly states strung along what is now Americas East Coastincluding those determined to preserve the fruits of human slavery.
Hence this essaymy effort to guide readers through our arcane electoral map on an election night further complicated by the fallout from a very modern and deadly pandemic.
1. Reading the Electoral Map
The basic math of the Electoral College is easy. There are 538 electoral votes; to win the presidency a candidate must garner a bare majority270. What can become difficult is charting the various combinations among a half-dozen or so closely contested states which could yield the next presidenthopefully without the dubious assistance of state legislatures, Congress, or the courts.
*snip*
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Laurence Tribe: A helpful guide to the next few days (Original Post)
Nevilledog
Nov 2020
OP
SharonClark
(10,014 posts)1. Thanks for posting.
Wounded Bear
(58,647 posts)3. Scary in sections, but a good read...nt
Nevilledog
(51,080 posts)4. That kinda explains life right now: scary in sections.
Wounded Bear
(58,647 posts)5. Indeed! nt
world wide wally
(21,740 posts)6. Let the people vote on it
Then add up the votes.
Simple as that.
Wednesdays
(17,342 posts)7. There is lots of good info, so I'm bookmarking...but--
The article ends with a doomsday scenario that I don't think is very likely.